The Oyre Effect: Part Two: Solidity
by mandomemory
Summary: Events take place 3 months after Part One... the ARC trooper Ando is stationed at a remote refugee camp, a mostly uneventful place until a friend he didn't expect to see appears, and Separatist treachery soon follows. Inspired by Republic Commando series.
1. Chapter 1

Star Wars belongs to George Lucas. Characters belong to me. Do not use without permission.

**----------------------------**

**The Oyre Effect**

**Part Two: Solidity**

**Character Bios****:**

**-Vhe'dn Oyre (FAY-dn oh-YAY-er)**

**Age: 17**

**Height: 5' 2"**

**Sex: Female**

**Homeworld: Corellia**

**Current Residence: Coruscant**

**Species: Zabrak/Kiffar/Human**

**Affiliations: The Mandalorians**

**-A-14, Ando (AN-doh)**

**Age: 11 years (physically 22)**

**Height: 6'**

**Sex: Male**

**Homeworld: Kamino**

**Species: Human Clone**

**Affiliations: The Republic Grand Army**

**Rank: Advanced Recon Commando Lieutenant**

**Status: Deployed**

**-A-70, Sevets (SEHV-ehts)**

**Age: 11 years (physically 22)**

**Height: 6'**

**Sex: Male**

**Homeworld: Kamino**

**Species: Human Clone**

**Affiliations: The Republic Grand Army**

**Rank: Advanced Recon Commando Commander**

**Status: Deployed**

**-Damper (DAM-per)**

**Age: 11 years (physically 22)**

**Height: 6'**

**Sex: Male**

**Homeworld: Kamino**

**Species: Human Clone**

**Affiliations: The Republic Grand Army**

**Rank: Pilot**

**Status: Deployed**

**-Kael-Shei Aa (KAYL-shay ah)**

**Age: 31 years**

**Height: 5' 10"**

**Sex: Male**

**Homeworld: Telos IV**

**Species: Echani/Human**

**Affiliations: The Republic Grand Army, The Jedi Order**

**Rank: Jedi Knight, GAR General**

**Status: Deployed**

**-Anon Ilia (AH-nuhn EE-lee-uh)**

**Age: 15 years**

**Height: 5' 5"**

**Sex: Female**

**Homeworld: Nar Shaddaa**

**Species: Zabrak**

**Affiliations: The Republic Grand Army, The Jedi Order**

**Rank: Jedi padawan, GAR Commander**

**Status: Deployed**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Chapter One**

_Three months since the events that took place on the unnamed moon, approx. 1.75 ABG, ARC Lieutenant A-14 (Ando) finds himself assigned to the protection of a remote refugee camp, stationed in the middle of a mostly barren dust bowl... the camp consists of mostly rural farmers, displaced by the Separatists, accustomed to the hardships of the planet they call home... though they are a tough lot, they are no match against the Separatist's forces alone...currently, Ando finds himself thrust into the middle of a struggle..._

_"Gr..."_

_"Ngh..."_

"Hey, Ando!" Damper yelled cheerfully, clamping his hands down onto Ando's shoulders, startling him.

Ando yelped as his arm was slammed down to the table in his moment of distraction. The man across from him, a refugee farmer, stood triumphant, soaking in the cheers of his peers.

Ando spun around to face Damper, who was laughing at Ando's misfortune. Ando brought a fist up.

"Damper, I swear..." he threatened, then trailed off as Damper's laughter grew louder, and he couldn't help but start laughing, too. He turned back around to meet his arm wrestling opponent, a burly looking man who couldn't help but have a kind face. They shook hands.

"You people are as strong as you look," Ando commended.

"That we are," the man confirmed. He smiled and jerked his head at Damper. "Though I'm sure you would have done better if you didn't have that growth on your shoulder."

The group of men and women burst into laughter.

"Hey!" Damper cried, indignant. He came up and threw a brotherly arm around Ando's neck. "He's _my_ sidekick, not the other way around!"

Ando shoved him off, chuckling.

"Fat chance,_ di'kut_," he hissed.

Slowly, the crowd began to disperse. Ando found himself being pulled to the side.

"Come on," Damper jerked his head over his shoulder, a goofy grin still on his face. "I've got something to show you."

Ando knew Damper well enough to know that he was being relatively serious. He fell into step beside him, calmly following him out of the perimeter of the camp. He slipped his helmet on, Damper doing the same.

"What is it?" he asked.

"You'll see," Damper murmured.

Their footsteps puffed up little clouds of rust colored dirt; Ando noticed that his armor was the same color as the earth around them up to his knees. The amount of grit and lack of water on this moon was astonishing, especially having grown up on such a planet as Kamino. Ando figured it took a stubborn sort of people to remain on this moon, toiling to barely survive. Maybe it was loyalty; he could understand that.

Damper kicked a lump of dirt over onto his boot. Ando shook it off and scuffed some over at Damper in return. Damper leapt back and fell into a defensive stance, hands out at him.

"Come on," he joked in mock challenge. "You want to settle this?"

Ando grinned behind his visor and fell into a similar stance, weight on his haunches. They paced in a circle around each other.

"Show me that thing you were before," Damper said. He swung at him and Ando blocked it almost effortlessly, then reposed and blocked another of Damper's return attacks.

"What," Ando feigned ignorance, "_this?"_

Ando grabbed Damper by the wrist and yanked him around so he could flip him over his shoulder. Damper shouted in protest, flailing, and Ando almost lost his balance as he went to throw him. He felt his helmet ripped off his head as Damper flew over his shoulder and onto the ground with a muted _oof!_ Ando fell down to his knees with the unintended momentum. Damper was scrambling to get up before him.

"Got to learn to fight dirty, Ando," Damper breathed as he flew at him and caught him around the waist as Ando moved to stand. They fell back to the ground, struggling to gain the upper hand. "Those fancy ARC dances can't help you all the time!"

"You'd like to think, Damper," Ando gasped, rolling around and pinning him with his knee. "You're a blasted _pilot_."

Damper coughed, trying with all his might to free his arms.

"Is this what you wanted to show me?" Ando laughed.

"All right, all right, I give," Damper gasped. Ando released him and stood. Damper rolled around to his knees, taking deep breaths. Ando offered him a hand and Damper grudgingly took it.

"You just wait, Ando, you'll get yours."

"Mhm," Ando agreed sarcastically. He went to pick up his helmet, slipping it back over his head. "You going to show me what you were going to now?"

"Yeah, yeah, come on."

The refugee camp was situated up against a large steppe on which the other side was the sheer drop of a ravine, made by two large crops of rock reaching high into the air. It almost appeared as a manmade passageway. Damper had led him there. Ando looked over the edge.

"Okay, so you've brought me here to kill me and dispose of the body," Ando concluded. "What now?"

Damper elbowed him playfully. "Race you to the bottom."

Ando looked over at him. "Seriously?"

"No, not _seriously_, who do you think I am?"

"Damper, that's _exactly_ what you would do."

"That aside, I really do have something to show you, it's just _down there,"_ Damper pointed down into the ravine.

Ando followed where he was pointing.

"Did you tell Sevets we would be here?" he asked him.

"No," came Damper's quick reply.

Ando nodded. "Let's hurry, then."

After making sure that their lines were secure, Ando followed Damper in rappelling down into the ravine.

"So did you find something down here, or what?" Ando called down to him.

"Yeah," Damper called back.

"What were you doing down here, any ways?"

"Do I ever have a reason?"

"Well I figure there must be some sort of flawed logic to what you do..."

Damper laughed.

Ando was thankful for the shadow that fell over them, cast by the adjacent cliff wall. The sun here was relentless during the day. He heard Damper's feet connect with a solid outcropping.

"Right here, Ando," he said.

Ando slid down and landed next to him.

"Quaint," he assessed.

Damper ignored him and reached under another outcrop. He pulled out a bag, and Ando suddenly grew very serious.

"That's not yours, is it?" he asked Damper.

Damper shook his head in an affirmative _no._

"It gets worse," Damper said. "Look what's inside it."

Slowly, Damper unzipped the bag and dumped the contents over onto the rock.

For a moment, Ando looked them over in an unfamiliar scrutiny, then recognition suddenly hit him like a punch in the gut.

He was staring at a light purple jumpsuit and black gauntlets. One had a menagerie of wires and cords wound up around it.

Ando forced himself to inhale.

"Gauntlets," Damper stated, unable to see Ando's shock behind his helmet. "Mandalorian in style, I'd say."

Ando still said nothing, instead just staring hard down at the items at his feet.

"Ando?" Damper queried. "You in there?"

Ando shook himself and looked up at Damper's t-visor.

"Fine," he stuttered. "I'm fine."

Ando shifted and nudged the items with his boot. He bent and began to shove them back into the bag. Damper squatted beside him.

"What's wrong? It's not _that_ disturbing is it?" Damper asked.

"If we've got Mandalorians, _yes_ it's that bad," Ando said distractedly. _Who was he kidding_, that wasn't on his mind at all.

"Should we tell Sevets?" Damper asked him.

"No!" Ando snapped, far too quickly. He could practically feel Damper raising an eyebrow at him.

"No," he stated, with far more restraint. "We don't need to worry him about it yet."

"Ando, that doesn't make any sense at all."

"Just trust me, okay?" Ando said impatiently, and probably harsher than he should have.

Damper was silent for a moment, and Ando could tell he disapproved.

"...All right, Ando. For you. But you'd better tell me what's going on," Damper stated, very serious.

"Of course," Ando breathed. "Just not right now. Let's get back to camp."

"You got it, Lieutenant."

As Ando climbed back up the rappel line, he felt his shock begin to fade slightly. He never thought that he'd ever see those gauntlets again, especially not the person in them. Was she here?

He scrounged up the name from his memory. _Vhe'dn_. He said her name in his mind.

Why had he forgotten so easily?


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Ando and Damper walked back to the camp in silence. Ando felt something close to guilt for yelling at Damper, but... he was distracted.

_More_ than distracted. He had to be crazy. Maybe they weren't her gauntlets? Maybe he had just imagined their similarity. What had it been since that mission? Three standard months? He could have forgotten.

Ando shook his head. No; ridiculous. He had excellent memory. Mistaken them, then? He took a deep breath and decided that that was it; for some daft reason he had _wanted_ them to be her gauntlets, so he'd focused only on the details he'd wanted to. That left him with the issue of who's they were and what they were doing there. If there _were_ Mandalorians here, it meant trouble.

But why would the Separatists send elite, assuredly expensive warriors to bully an insignificant refugee camp? It had no military significance besides a general. They'd already displaced the people from their homes.

They came to the entrance of the camp.

"Ando, I haven't seen you this tense since I took you wave skipping back home on Kamino," Damper commented. Ando looked over at him, forcing himself to relax his muscles.

"I'm not tense," he said.

"Of course you're not," Damper deadpanned.

Ando grimaced, then looked up at the watch post. He waved to the trooper at the top, shifting through comlink channels.

"That you, Fours?" he asked.

"No, sir, this is Patch," came the reply. "Standby."

The large metal door began to slide upwards, throwing dust into the air. They ducked under it and it closed rapidly behind them. Damper took off his helmet. Farmers ambled around the camp between the tents and the armored troopers, as if searching for ways to be of use. Of course; these people were used to working, to taking care of themselves. They were used to being self-reliant. Here, they had little to do, and little to keep their mind off their misfortune.

Ando wondered what it was like to lose a home; he didn't have a home to lose. He bunked wherever he was sent and was grateful every time he had the luxury of sleeping in an actual bed.

His sight brought him to watching a group of refugees. A half ring was forming around one of them, the group enthralled by the story being told. The crowd shifted and Ando's eyes fell on a short, dark haired farm girl. She turned her head and Ando caught a glance of her face. There was a beat, then he gasped, grabbing Damper by his armor.

"Ando-?" Damper inquired. Ando hauled him bodily behind a stack of supply crates.

"What's going on?" Damper demanded, stumbling to the ground beside him. Ando released him, looked around the edge of the crates, then turned back around, his back against the metal, shocked.

"That's _her_," he hissed.

Damper narrowed his eyes in confusion. Ando growled in panicked frustration.

"That's _her_, that's the girl!" he hissed again, words tumbling out in a rushed flurry.

Damper put his hands up. "Okay, okay, okay, slow down," he whispered back. "What the _hell_ is going on with you?"

"_That_ girl, _that's_ the Mandalorian girl," Ando explained. "And those were her gauntlets!" He put his hands over the visor of his helmet and groaned.

"What?" Damper hissed. Ando looked over at him and Damper's eyes suddenly widened.

"Wait," Damper said. "You mean- that's _her? The_ Mandalorian, from months ago? That's her? _The_ girl?"

"Yeah."

Damper stared at him in disbelief. "We've got to go get Sevets."

"No!" Ando hauled him back down to the ground as he tried to get up. "No."

Damper indicated Ando's insanity with wide arm gestures.

"What if she's a spy, Ando, are you _crazy?_" Damper hissed.

"Yes- no! I mean, she's not!" Ando stumbled over his words and emotions. "I just... I just _know_."

Damper shook his head in disbelief, then reached out and grabbed Ando by the shoulder pauldron. He shook him.

"Don't ask me to keep this a secret, Ando. You know you don't have the authority to do that," Damper said very seriously.

Ando stared at him grimly. Damper laughed nervously.

"Damper-" Ando began.

Damper laughed again, bringing a hand up, indicating for him to stop.

"_Damper_, I've helped you with crazier things," Ando pressed on.

"Ando, don't say it. You _know_ I can't say no to you."

"Please don't tell Sevets. Not yet."

Damper hung his head, chuckling. He looked back up at him, sobered, and swatted him hard on the helmet.

"You got it, Lieutenant," Damper smirked. "Take care of it, though, okay? I can't keep quiet forever."

"Thank you, Damper," Ando whispered.

"Oh, shut up. Just go, will you?"

Ando took a deep breath, collecting himself, then stood. He walked straight for the girl. He didn't stop when he got to her, instead grabbing her by the upper arm and hauling her away from the crowd. She protested quietly, stumbling along, but he didn't look back at her. Her led her straight into his tent and pulled her around to in front of him, releasing her. He pulled his helmet off.

"_What are you doing here?"_ he burst.

A large, distracted grin just spread over Vhe'dn Oyre's face. _Oh_, and it was _her_. She was dressed incongruously as a farmer, but there was no mistaking her face, her smile, her presence.

"Your scars..." Vhe'dn breathed, looking over his face. She met his eyes. "You healed well."

It took Ando a few moments to process what she had said, because he had been expecting a direct answer to his question. He scoffed disbelievingly, shifting his stance and gesturing angrily at her.

"Okay, I don't know if you're lost, or what," Ando began. His voice dropped to a hiss, "_but you need to get out of here!"_

Vhe'dn backed up to the table behind her and slid up onto it, her legs dangling over the side.

"Why?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. The side of her mouth twitched upward. "I'm a refugee; I have nowhere to go."

"No, no, no, no," Ando spoke in panicked, breathy little laughs. "None of that flippancy thing."

"What flippancy thing?" Vhe'dn feigned ignorance.

Ando set his helmet to the side, tripping over what to say. "That- _thing_ you do when you're trying to ignore what I'm saying."

"I'm not doing anything," Vhe'dn replied innocently.

Ando covered his face with his hands and groaned loudly into his gloves.

"What am I going to _do_, this is so _bad_..." he moaned. He was suddenly aware of Vhe'dn giggling at him. He uncovered his face and demanded angrily, "_What_ are you doing here?"

"Working on my tan," Vhe'dn lifted an arm and rubbed it, admiring. "Isn't it obvious?"

"_Vhe'dn!_" Ando pleaded.

Vhe'dn slammed her hands down onto the table on either side of her in frustration.

"Ando, do I need a military explanation for _visiting you?"_ she exclaimed.

"No!" Ando pointed a threatening finger at her. "This is not a visit! This is crazy! Do you realize what the commander would do if he knew who you were?"

Vhe'dn raised a casual eyebrow at him. "How's he going to find out? _You're_ not going to tell him, are you?"

Ando shifted, feeling cornered.

"Fierfek, Vhe'dn, it's been _three months_ and you all of a sudden show up in a Republic safe camp?" he shook his head. "Are you in _disguise?_"

"Well, obviously that's the only way I could get in," Vhe'dn said matter-of-factly.

"Are you _insane?_" Ando laughed disbelievingly. "Why are you here? Is this another job?"

"Of course it's not a job."

"If you get caught, _that's_ what they'll assume," Ando stated. "Honestly, I don't want to see you killed on the spot, seeing as how you _did_ help me."

Vhe'dn grimaced. "Touching."

Ando felt instantly foolish and guilty; she _still_ had that frustrating affect on him, he noted.

"Vhe'dn..." he tried to recover.

"Ando, would you calm down?" Vhe'dn interrupted him. "I'm not going to get caught."

Ando nodded.

"Damn right. You're leaving," he stated, and moved for her.

Vhe'dn shifted back on the table slightly, narrowing her eyes at him. "I'm not."

Ando reached for her. "Vhe-"

He paused as Vhe'dn reached up and placed a finger over his lips. For some odd reason, the thought that came to his mind was that this was the first time she had touched him in three months. He had accepted long ago that he was never going to see her again, and now she had suddenly crashed very rapidly back into his life.

Vhe'dn then surprised him by springing up and throwing her arms around his neck.

"I missed you, too, Ando," she said gently, her voice muffled by his neck.

Ando stood still for a moment, hair prickling, then hesitantly lowered his arms over her shoulders, awkwardly returning the hug. She smelled faintly of caf. He sighed discontentedly.

"We'll work this out later," he murmured, unsure of how to respond.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Jedi Knight Kael-Shei Aa padded silently over the dry, dusty copper ground; it was far too hard packed to be a desert, yet far too sandy and devoid of life to be much else. It reminded him of Geonosis, in a way. A dead plateau.

Or was it?

Kael-Shei came to the crest of the escarpment, maybe eight hundred meters from the refugee camp, and smiled down at the image of his young Padawan crouched on the ground on the other side of it, surrounded on all sides by flat, barren land. She was fidgeting with something.

Kael-Shei leapt and landed softly at the bottom. Despite, Anon Ilia, his Padawan, whipped her head around to look at him. She smiled.

"Come see, Master," she called to him.

Kael-Shei approached with interest and crouched down beside her. Anon moved her hands to reveal a small, robust plant poking stubbornly through the hard dirt. Kael-Shei smiled.

"One of the farmers must have been bringing seeds and dropped one," Anon speculated happily.

"Indeed," Kael-Shei agreed, raising an eyebrow and smiling.

Anon had her hands cupped around the plant in an odd sort of fashion that would have confused someone unaware of what she was doing. Kael-Shei knew.

"You've helped it along quite a bit," Kael-Shei mused.

Anon looked almost sheepish. "It was withering when I found it," she explained. "I just thought I could give it some help."

"Even with how much it exhausts you?" Kael-Shei asked.

"I enjoy it, Master," Anon said softly, staring down at the plant, living by her ministrations.

"You have a rare gift, Anon," Kael-Shei said gently. "You'll be a great healer one day."

Anon looked up at him and smiled before returning her focus to the plant. Kael-Shei could feel her pouring energy into it, and in a certain way, it worried him; it was as if he could feel her presence fading, like the merest fraction of her life was escaping from her into the plant. It was an unsettling feeling, like she was far away. He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, almost more for his own security than hers.

"Just be careful, Padawan," he said. "Don't overdo yourself."

"I won't, Master," Anon responded.

She had the confidence typical of one her age; how could a fifteen year old yet worry about pouring her youth into a lonely plant when her liveliness was so tangible?

They both looked up at the escarpment suddenly, sensing someone approaching. Kael-Shei knew instantly who it was; Commander Sevets. It was impossible to mistake the strict, dutiful personality for anyone else. For how alike the clones looked and oftentimes _seemed_, they each had a very distinct presence in the Force. Kael-Shei knew Sevets very well; he had been serving with him for almost a year and half now.

Sevets appeared at the crest of the escarpment. He waved down to them, all business.

Anon wrinkled her nose. "He feels so… dingy."

Kael-Shei grimaced, then stood.

"Dingy is not the word I would use at all, Anon. Perhaps you are mistaken," Kael-Shei stated. He decided to elaborate. "You can't know everything about someone just from what you initially sense from them, the same way you can't know someone just by looking at their face. You can get an impression, a hunch, something to start on, but that's all it is: the surface. Remember that."

"Yes, Master," Anon muttered.

Kael-Shei frowned. Anon was new to him; her old master had been recently killed in the war. A lot of the time, Anon acted like Kael-Shei assumed she always had before the event; then hints of her hurt would surface like this and leave him floundering to give her guidance. He had decided on the spot to train her after the incident, and she was his first Padawan. Sometimes he feared that he would not be able to be the teacher she needed, but he couldn't get caught up on that; Anon would see it as _her _failing, when truly it was_ his_.

"I'd better go see what it is," Kael-Shei said; Sevets exuded impatience. He added, as an afterthought, "Maybe you can take it on as a challenge to get him to lighten up a bit."

Anon's mood shifted to something far less brooding, and she rewarded him with a smile.

"You got it, Master," she trilled.

Feeling warmed, Kael-Shei set off for Sevets.

Sevets wasted no time when he reached him; he had his helmet tucked securely under his arm and stood rigidly stoic.

"General, we've received a call for assistance from a stead about eighty klicks from here," Sevets stated. He sounded eerily like Ando, but then, not at all. Ando's usually jovial intonations and light overtones were lost in Sevets's curt, authoritarian speech patterns. Sometimes Kael-Shei pitied him; a life of responsibility and the sense of being accountable for the lives of so many soldiers under him had robbed Sevets of his humor.

Partially; sometimes, when Sevets didn't know Kael-Shei was looking, he would see the man lighten up when he was around his brothers. Ando, Damper, and Sevets had all grown up in close quarters with each other.

"We'd best be on our way, then," Kael-Shei said with a grim smile.

There was a beat.

"Sir, we're not sure if it's genuine or not," Sevets said, shifting.

Kael-Shei began walking back in the direction of the camp, indicating for Sevets to join him.

"Well, I'm willing to take the risk," Kael-Shei said.

"With all due respect, sir," Sevets said, falling into step beside him, "your impulsiveness will get you killed."

Kael-Shei couldn't help but smile. Sevets had an odd way of combining rigid discipline with a complete lack of tact. He could be startlingly blunt and not have a second thought about it. Kael-Shei wondered if Sevets knew how truly edgy he was.

"Perhaps," Kael-Shei shrugged. "I can't deny what I am."

Sevets paused. He could tell the statement confused him.

"Is that an order, sir?" Sevets asked, sounding like he was going to grudgingly agree with whatever he chose.

"Not at all, Commander," Kael-Shei responded. "It's my choice to go; you don't have to join me."

Sevets was quiet for a moment.

"I'm coming with you, sir," he finally said.

Soon, they came to the doors of the camp. They began to slide open.

"I'll go put Ando in charge," Sevets murmured in that quiet, yet demanding tone of his that he often took when not shouting orders. He set off for their tent.

Kael-Shei shook his head thoughtfully, then moved for the speeders.

**********

"…and so then I set up an apartment on Coruscant and have been scanning through Republic databanks while I attended local universities for the past three months," Vhe'dn finished summarizing.

Ando sat cleaning his armor, listening intently to Vhe'dn's anecdote. It was an oddly surreal situation, and Ando even questioned if the heat was getting to him and that was the reason he wasn't going crazy over how incredibly _bad_ the situation was.

"Why would you tell an officer in the Republic army that you were illegally sifting through confidential data?" Ando murmured, running a dry rag over the edges of his removed chest armor, picking up the dust.

Vhe'dn swung her legs cheerfully from where she sat on the table. "Because you trust me."

Ando gave a harsh, flat laugh.

"Come on, you know you do, or I wouldn't still be here," Vhe'dn teased him.

"Not for long," Ando retorted.

"_Yes_ for long," Vhe'dn corrected.

"Won't your university teachers be missing you?" Ando reminded her. "Kick you out of school for cutting class, or something?"

He looked up from his work. Vhe'dn smirked, relaxing casually with her weight on her arms behind her, propping her up.

"You think I'm paying for it?" she laughed. "I'm not there for the degree. Hell, they don't even know I attend their classes. I'm not on the roster, I just show up."

Ando was quiet, focusing intently on cleaning his armor.

"Go on," Vhe'dn pressed. "Just admit you like me _a little_."

"I admit that I find you _tolerable_," Ando muttered, not looking up.

Vhe'dn laughed. Ando set the rag down and put his hands on his legs, crossed beneath him.

"Why are you _really_ here, Vhe'dn?" He asked her. "And no more games. Drop the act."

Vhe'dn cocked her head at him and her expression softened, and for a moment Ando could look past the barriers she set up; he was slightly surprised that he was even able to tell that she _had_ barriers up, as those acute perceptions were usually saved for Sevets and Damper, who he had grown up with.

In an instant, it was gone. Vhe'dn pushed herself up and leaned forward.

"I don't have a job reason, if that's what you're asking. Honestly, I'm just a civilian right now," Vhe'dn jumped off the table suddenly and rummaged through her pack. "Which reminds me…"

She pulled out something wrapped in some sort of cellophane and held it down to him. He stood up and took it from her hand.

"Uj cake," she explained. "Made it myself. Ever had it?"

Ando shook his head. Vhe'dn gave him a knowing smile.

"You'll love it," she said, and pulled out two more pieces, pushing them into his hands.

Vhe'dn reached into her belt and pulled out a handful of small holodisks.

"I brought you some music," she smiled eagerly, thrusting the disks into his hands. He accepted them with an overwhelmed expression.

"Most of them are of stuff I like, but there's all kinds in there so you can decide what _you_ like," she said.

Ando looked down at the disks fondly, more for the kind gesture they represented than their musical value.

He set the items to the side.

"Vhe'd-"

Sevets suddenly burst into the tent in a flurry of purposeful movement.

"There's been a call and the General and -" Sevets stopped midsentence as his sight fell on Vhe'dn. Ando watched his expression darken.

"Something wrong, Lieutenant?" Sevets asked him slowly. Ando flinched; it was never a good sign when Sevets referred to him as 'Lieutenant' when there weren't other officers around.

"Nothing at all, sir," Ando replied, decided not to test his patience.

Sevets waited for him to elaborate, but Ando offered no further explanation. Finally, Sevets furrowed his brow and gave him his _we'll talk later_ expression and spoke.

"The General and I are responding to a distress call," Sevets stated. "Unless the Padawan shows, you're in charge."

Sevets shifted and glanced at Vhe'dn for a moment before looking back to Ando.

"I'd better go before the General makes the rash decision to leave without me again," he said, then turned and walked out of the tent, placing his helmet back over his head.

Ando realized that his heart was hammering. He looked back at Vhe'dn, who gave him a nervous, guilty smile.

"Charming guy," she commented.

Ando scowled, feeling the need to come to his brother's defense.

"He was only acting like that because you were here," he said.

Vhe'dn raised her hands in mock surrender.

"No need to get touchy, I didn't say I didn't like him," Vhe'dn explained.

"It doesn't matter if you don't like him or not," Ando snapped.

Vhe'dn nodded.

"I'll come back later," she said, moving for the exit.

"Where are you going?" he asked her.

"Around. Don't worry, I won't get into trouble."

Ando let her go. He let out a frustrated sigh; he could do nothing correctly. A flurry of responsibilities flooded back into his mind and threatened to drown him. He felt sick, deceiving Sevets. He glanced down at the uj cake, then snatched up two and went to find Damper.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Sevets rocketed by the General's side, just barely behind him as to avoid the dust that his speeder kicked up; even so, Sevets knew he'd be cleaning grit from his armor for months after this job was done. He had tried to cover the bulk of it with a simple throw over.

Sevets sighed to himself. He had a _bad_ feeling about this trip, but that was nothing he could explain to a Jedi; so he had tried logic, that the Seps would only keep burning steads until the queen accepted Separatist occupation, that it wouldn't stop unless they surrendered or the Republic sent _actual_ support, instead of just a few troops to mop up the mess and run the refugee camps. In usual fashion, Aa hadn't listened; he was righteous.

Sevets hadn't the luxury of righteousness. He felt like he had become the impromptu logic center of his General's brain, who was ruled almost completely by his heart. In a way, Sevets envied him the choice, and resented the way he had to fall into place of _always_ following his mind, because if _he_ didn't do it, no one would fill the void. Ando could fill his position if he had to, but was still far more influenced by his pity than Sevets allowed himself to be.

_Ando_. Sevets tried not to think too hard about what he had been doing in their tent with that refugee girl, because the curiosity would destroy him. At this point, Sevets had accepted it as having something to do with an injury, as Ando was always playing medic everywhere he went; and he was _good_ at it. But that didn't explain the look on Ando's face when he had entered their tent.

Sevets squinted across the expanse of flat land and spires of rock shooting into the air. Right on the edge of his vision there was smoke rising steadily into the sky. His heart fell slightly; so the General would have to learn the hard way, then. Sevets had come to realize over the course of the war that the Jedi never understood violence no matter how much they saw it. Even though he was outranked by the Knight, Sevets almost felt like a guide sometimes, and that bothered him. Correcting his superior officer always left his cheeks close to flaming, but he had to keep him alive above all else. If that included occasionally giving his General a nudge in the right direction, then so be it; duty was sacrifice.

It became increasingly more apparent as they approached the stead that they were too late. They finally came to a stop. Sevets swung his leg off the speeder and took a few cautious steps toward the burning stead, keeping a wary eye on the General. Aa pulled his goggles off and secured them over his head. Sevets couldn't tell what his mouth was doing, as it was covered to protect it from the grit, but his eyes said it all.

"It was inevitable, General," Sevets said quietly. "You can't save them all. Refugee camps are just delaying them."

"This place reeks of death," Aa breathed, and began walking. Sevets followed him. "Why would they do this?"

"You know why they do this, General," Sevets said gently; he had become the teacher again.

They made their way around to the front of the stead. Sevets's patience wore thin.

"General, the droids could still be around," Sevets urged. "We should go. There's nothing more for us here."

Aa seemed distracted.

"Just a moment…" he murmured, taking a few steps closer to the home. His eyebrows shot up a fraction and he looked over at him.

"There's someone still alive in there," Aa stated. Sevets felt adrenaline flood his body.

Suddenly, Aa jumped and spun, his lightsaber snapping into life. Sevets drew his blaster a fraction of a second later.

"Droids!" Aa yelled, just before he began to bat away blaster fire. "Ambush!"

Sevets returned fire as the group of droids began to appear from where they had been hidden, waiting to box them in.

"General!" Sevets yelled, urging him that it was time to make a rapid exit.

"No!" Aa snapped, batting fire away from the both of them. "Commander, go get the survivor! I'll hold the line!"

"But-"

_"Sevets!"_

It was an order. Sevets tore away from the battle and sprinted for the home, swearing. He slapped the pad at the door and it beeped a negative return at him, so he blasted the panel away in frustration, forcing the door open. He moved into the home.

Flames engulfed his senses, and suddenly all he could hear was the groaning of infrastructure and the crackling and roar of the fire; blaster fire and the sounds of the battle drained from his concentration. He pushed forward even though the animal in him said _flee_. He heard his helmet filters kick in.

There was hardly anything left on this level that Sevets could see through the smoke and heat mirage, and he swore as he realized he'd have to scale the stairs. He yelled instinctively and threw his arms up to cover his head as a beam collapsed and fell in front of him. He growled and moved up the stairs, hating how they protested.

There was a door jammed halfway open and Sevets could swear he heard something other than flames inside. He forced his shoulder into the opening and pushed backwards, bracing his hands on the other side of the door. It groaned in protest, but yielded. Sevets stepped into the room and tried to ignore the corpses burning on the floor. Adults. _Parents_. He tried not to think about that, either.

But the terrified sobs of a young child were not ignorable, heard just barely over the roar of the flames. Sevets could see a crib and the child in it, old enough to stand. He moved over to him and the child grabbed hold of his gloved hand, clutching, screaming in plea, trying to find some comfort in his presence. Sevets froze, shocked for a moment by his reaction to the scene, but still managed to have half the sense enough to realize that his armor plates were probably blazing to the touch. He yanked the blanket out from under the child and wrapped him up in it before hoisting him out of the crib and positioning him against him. He wasted no time in exiting the room, barreling down the stairs; they collapsed as he stepped off them. The house was coming down around him.

Sevets burst through the exit and crouched, running around the perimeter of the home, back to where the speeders were parked. He could still hear the battle. This was good; it meant the General was yet alive. Sevets padded to a stop by the speeders and laid the child, still held captive by the blanket wrapped around him, down on the ground. He watched his armor smoke; he must have looked terrifying, but the child didn't seem to care.

"We'll be back," Sevets muttered. The child had stopped crying; was that good or bad? "Hang tight, kid."

Sevets pulled his blasters from their holsters and ran for the battle, moving as to try to surround the droids as best he could. Aa had done an admirable job of thinning their numbers already. Sevets squeezed off a few shots to draw some of their attention.

"Move!" he screamed, hoping Aa could either hear him or feel his intentions through that Force of his. Sevets lobbed a grenade into their ranks and was relieved when Aa sprinting with an inhuman speed to safety. The grenade exploded, crippling the ranks and turning the droids to shrapnel that took out even more. Sevets picked off the survivors. It was done, just that simple.

It was never simple.

"Next time," Sevets stated in a way that left no room for argument, forcing a grenade into the General's hand as he approached, "you're carrying a few of _these_."

Aa snapped his lightsaber off, and the vibrant green blade died.

"The survivor?" he panted, exhausted.

"Survived," Sevets confirmed. He pointed an incriminating finger at Aa in a moment of uncharacteristic freeness of inhibition, brought on by adrenaline, he told himself. "Don't you _ever_ make me go into a burning building again."

They jogged back to the speeders. The child was crying again, trapped on the ground. Aa scooped him up and he quieted instantly.

"Is he going to be okay?" Sevets asked, knowing full well the dangers of smoke inhalation.

"I think so," Aa said, pulling the blanket off the child. "Ando and Anon would be better judges, but I have a good feeling."

"They came for _you_, General," Sevets stated, deciding it was time to berate Aa's rash decision. "They knew you would show up. If they can kill you, the queen will lose hope, and accept the occupation. We lose."

Aa nodded grimly. "Very insightful, Commander."

Sevets didn't know how to respond, so he didn't; the General seemed to finally understand what he had been trying to tell him.

"We need _real_ help, sir," Sevets said instead. "If the Republic isn't planning on intervening, it would be better to just leave now and let the Seps have the planet; the only difference waiting will make is more civilian casualties."

Aa nodded again. "I am _trying_, Sevets."

Sevets inclined his head slightly, feeling put on the spot.

"We should go, General," he said gently. "There might be reinforcements around."

Aa nodded once again, and the compliance almost embarrassed Sevets.

"What will you do with the kid if he's okay?" he asked.

Aa smiled, then pulled his mouth cover back over his face and moved for his speeder.

"He's Force-sensitive," Aa said. "He'll come back to the temple with me, if he doesn't have relatives at the camp."

Sevets didn't question how he knew or how unlikely the coincidence seemed, and instead moved for his own speeder. He noticed that his throw over was singed all over the edges.

"Let's get back to camp, then, Commander."

"Yes, General."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Vhe'dn had made a point to be there when the Jedi returned to the camp, and she was.

Her thoughts went unwillingly to her mother when she saw that he had returned with a toddler in his arms and no trace of parents. Death happened far too frequently and far to easily for Vhe'dn's taste. She had been surrounded by loss for the day that she had been in this camp, and it was hard not to sympathize; she found herself very grateful for the _Mando_ mentality of a nomadic lifestyle, and for her home on Mandalore, and for her apartment on Coruscant. These people knew little of building up from scratch, and even less about losing loved ones.

It didn't matter how many times you lost them, though, Vhe'dn knew; her throat would always burn when she thought of her mother, for the rest of her life.

And then there were the clones to offset everything; men who had never had parents, had never had the chance to lose them, and never would. What was that like? She recognized the close knit brotherly ties between factions of them, and it was so eerily _Mando_ that it left her floored sometimes, not to mention how every single one shared Ando's face; and it would always be _Ando's_ face, she knew. She had seen scatterings of troopers on Coruscant, but hardly like this. Dozens of unmasked faces, identical apart from scars and small attempts to personalize themselves. Vhe'dn noted that Ando kept his hair slightly longer than most of the other clones, enough for her to get the impression that it would curl if it was allowed to grow any longer; that detail wasn't as apparent on the other clones around her. It was difficult to tell them all apart, which bothered her. She had tried her best to keep those around Ando straight. Sevets was easy; head shaved, ARC getup with yellow markings. And then Ando's friend, the one with the tooth earring in his ear, Ando had called him Damper.

They were just all so... real. Removed from the stress of a battlefield with little to do but wait for an attack, varied and very distinct personalities suddenly emerged with vigor. It was fascinating and _exciting_. She saw... she saw _families_. Families that had emerged from duty and intense training and fear and trust. The clones' short lives were so different, and yet they were so very the same as hers and everyone else's. She saw Mandalorians, and had to force herself not to get ideas.

But for all intents and purposes, the Jedi had arrived back at camp, and Vhe'dn had gotten her first good look at him. General Kael-Shei Aa had what she would have described as a perfect face; a little bit _too_ perfect for her tastes, but certainly alluring. He looked far too young to be a Knight, but that might have been the way he still wore a Padawan's hairstyle. His white hair made her assume he was Echani. He exuded confidence in himself and those around him, but it wasn't arrogance. Vhe'dn didn't know what it was yet, but he seemed optimistic, almost _lively_, and open. Certainly not the worst impression she'd ever gotten from a Jedi.

Vhe'dn slid off her perch atop a crate and paced casually around the camp. Yes, Ando was right; she _could_ get caught, but she had known that long before she had finally made the decision to risk it and come here. She wasn't sure Ando would understand that yet, that she _had_ ran through everything that could go wrong in her head, and that she had worried herself into a panic many of times over the decision, and that even though she understood the risks... she was still willing to take them, to see him. Vhe'dn laughed to herself as she pondered how to explain that to him; Ando had such a thick skull. Sometimes it was easier just to reassure him.

It was all worth the risk, though; being around him again was exhilarating. She felt like her lungs would fill with air that she couldn't exhale; it was a combination of adrenaline and excitement, she knew. Ando's face had healed perfectly besides the stark white scars, and she was happy for that; the Republic didn't have the right to take yet another thing from him.

Vhe'dn looked over at Sevets and the Jedi again; the refugees were forming a curious crowd around them, many of them probably hoping the toddler was a relation. She wandered closer. Sevets had a curious air to him; he seemed so high strung, and yet not exactly comfortable in its role. Ando was wrong if he thought he had to protect his brother from her judgment.

"That's the General, Aa, and Commander Sevets," someone explained behind her. Vhe'dn jumped and turned around. A trooper in markless armor smiled lightly at her.

"You're new here," he said, and offered her a friendly hand. Vhe'dn took it and he shook her hand firmly without crushing her fingers, which impressed her, as she was used to pulling her hand away near the bruising point.

"I'm Fours," he introduced himself, then pointed at the crowd. "The General's an amazing diplomat, but I've yet to see him in battle; I'm anxious."

"Vhe'dn," Vhe'dn replied, pleasantly surprised that he had approached her. She had come to realize that most of the clones would avoid open conversation with civilians unless they had to, and then only objectively. She figured it came from living such a cloistered life on Kamino; they hadn't been prepared for it. Yet another thing they were robbed of.

"You're right," Vhe'dn said. "I only just arrived last night."

"You were alone," Fours observed gently. "Was your family already here?"

"No," Vhe'dn said, staring at Sevets, "my mother is dead."

It was a simple, edited version of the truth. She had to bite her tongue to keep from saying _buir_. Fours smiled sympathetically.

"I'm sorry," he consoled.

He appeared to wear his heart on his sleeve. Vhe'dn smiled at him gently, wondering how he understood, and not liking the answer she came up with; Fours had probably lost many brothers over the course of the war.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "I'm okay."

Vhe'dn jerked her head at the Jedi.

"Does he treat you well?" she asked.

"As in clones?" Fours sought to clarify, sounding like he was used to being lumped into a category and chose to suppress reaction to it. Vhe'dn realized how callous her question had sounded.

"I'm sorry," she corrected. "I didn't mean to be so blunt, but... yes, that is what I meant."

Fours waved a hand.

"It's fine," he dismissed, then considered. "General Aa is kind. He cares about us, but he can be naive at times," he shifted. "He spends lives foolishly sometimes when he gets caught up in trying to pretend he can avoid a dirty war. He's righteous."

Vhe'dn raised a commending eyebrow, arms crossed over her chest. "Pretty openly spoken for him being your superior."

"I trust him," Fours clarified, "and I would never question an order. He's a Jedi; he can see things we can't, so every life I'm sure is a necessary loss. I just can't understand it, but that doesn't mean he's wrong."

He sounded very convinced, indeed.

"Perhaps," Vhe'dn said. She paused. "How old is he?"

"Young," Fours said, looking over at him. "Late twenties would be my best guess."

He looked younger than that, Vhe'dn thought. Fours shifted, a curious expression on his face as he looked at her.

"Ma'am, if you don't mind me saying, you're the first civilian here besides the group from the North who hasn't been afraid to talk to me," he commented sheepishly.

Vhe'dn laughed. "Honestly?"

Fours nodded. "You usually avoid us," he confirmed.

Vhe'dn grimaced. "There's no reason to. Maybe it's a mentality. I wasn't born here."

"Well, I-"

"Fours!"

Fours paused midway through his sentence and turned.

"Come help me with this!" another clone called to him. He was struggling to hoist up supply crates.

Fours turned back to her.

"Apologies, ma'am," he said with a small smile. He inclined his head slightly in goodbye. "Maybe we'll talk again."

Vhe'dn nodded in affirmation. Fours spun and placed his helmet back over his head before jogging over to help his brother.

The crowd had broken up when Vhe'dn turned back to it, and Sevets and the Jedi had moved for the tents, toddler still in tow.

_You're the first civilian who hasn't been afraid to talk to me. _Thinking about it, it almost made Vhe'dn sick to consider the days when she had been so ignorant about the origins of the Grand Army of Republic. Sometimes she felt like screaming it out to the citizens she passed; only the constant flow of governmental dissenters that attended the universities had kept her moderately sane.

Camp was boring. Hours crept by with hardly anything to do, and left Vhe'dn itching to get at technology. She wandered aimlessly around because she didn't want to return to the tent set up for orphaned, siblingless teenagers she had been assigned to because she was an unfortunate two months away from eighteen. She was a caged animal, and had to acknowledge the fact that she had signed up for it when she had decided to come. She saw Ando occasionally, and the Jedi's Padawan, a young Zabrak girl, but Ando never approached her. The circumstances and environment that they were placed in were far removed from how it had been months ago. This felt... softer. Much softer.

Serce III had a very odd evening schedule. One of dozens of moons that circled its home planet, there was an hour of darkness before it grew light again for a short time, before finally falling into final darkness for its night cycle; the same thing happened in the morning. Vhe'dn had found it fascinating.

She now lay on the ground at the crest of the escarpment, the land form separating the perimeter of the camp from the rest of the open land, hands crossed behind her head in the final cycle of dark. She couldn't see the stars over the light the other moons cast. The means to her escape, a small hacking device, lay tucked securely in her belt. She was only taking a breather, she told herself.

"I'm not going to ask how you got out," a voice suddenly said, and Vhe'dn jumped, "but please tell me you didn't slot a guard or something."

Vhe'dn rolled over and stood, taking the blanket she had been laying on with her, wrapped around her shoulders.

"_Ando_..." she exhaled. "Don't do that."

Ando ignored her and instead sauntered up to her. He knit his eyebrows together slightly and put his hand flat palmed over her head, then moved it towards his chest, then back over her head.

"Did you grow?" he queried.

Vhe'dn sneered at him. "Ha, ha."

She turned around and flopped back down onto the ground, sitting slightly hunched over as to keep the blanket in place.

"You seem in a better mood," she commented, not looking at him.

"May I join you?" Ando asked.

"Would you not if I said no?" Vhe'dn quipped.

Ando sat down next to her any ways.

"It's not safe out here without a weapon," he said.

"An inch."

"What?"

"I grew an inch," Vhe'dn answered.

"Ah."

They sat in silence for a moment, each staring off into separate spaces.

"I _am_ happy to see you, you know," Ando murmured.

Vhe'dn glanced over at him. "You have an odd way of showing it."

"_Why_, Vhe?" Ando breathed at the ground; the nickname startled her. Ando let out a disbelieving little laugh. He looked over at her. "Why did you show up here?"

"See, this is where I get confused again..."

"It's been _months_."

"You're not exactly easy to keep in touch with, Ando."

"I thought you were_ gone_."

"Did you want it to stay that way?" Vhe'dn asked, growing angry. "_Shab_, Ando, what do you want?"

"I don't know!" Ando burst, frustrated. "I-... I thought you were _gone_."

Vhe'dn stared at him curiously in silence for a moment. Then it dawned on her. A smile slowly spread across her face.

"You missed me," she stated. It wasn't a question.

"What?" Ando scoffed.

Vhe'dn shifted to face him. "You missed me; you thought I wasn't coming back, and you're _angry at me for it."_

Ando just stared earnestly at her, the light of the moons casting bright highlights and deep shadows on his face, his scars lit up and standing out vividly against the darkness of his skin. Just the slightest trace of embarrassment was readable in his expression.

"But I _did_ come back," Vhe'dn grinned, "but you still want to be angry at me for it, because you can't get over thinking I wasn't."

She stared him down, and as Ando stared back, his expression began to shift. It started with a slight twitch at the edge of his lips, then it transferred to his eyes. He squirmed. Vhe'dn realized he was trying to fight back a guilty grin. She laughed, that carefree laugh she liked so much and Ando turned away, looking out across the desert, biting the inside of his lips, even though he knew it was obvious. Finally he submitted to the sheepish smile as she couldn't help but continue to laugh happily. He finally looked back at her, eyes sparkling.

"Okay. You win. Blast it all, you _win_," he said with a lopsided, closed-lipped smile. "I give. I missed you, for some unfathomable reason."

Vhe'dn smiled gibingly at him. "_Unfathomable_. Couldn't you just say it straight out for once? This is a big moment for me."

Ando just grimaced at her and stared out across the desert. He sobered slightly.

"I don't know where you plan to take this disguise," he said gently. "I'm afraid you'll get caught."

Vhe'dn softened.

"I'll try to play it safe, Ando," she said. "It's just... it wasn't exactly easy to find one clone amongst tens of thousands. I wasn't about to let it slide when I found you."

"How did you do that, by the way?" Ando asked, turning his head to look at her, a small, knowing smile on his face.

"A knack for searching databases. Constant open streaming and persistence. And some illegal software I made myself," Vhe'dn smirked, satisfied with herself.

Ando laughed softly. "Creepy." He pushed himself up and stood. He offered a hand down to her.

"Come on."

Vhe'dn took his hand with a smile and he hauled her up. They walked back to the camp.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

"Yeah," Sevets confirmed, "that's definitely a Sep camp going up. _Fierfek_."

"What're they doing, Sarge?"

"_Damper_, would you _stop_ calling me that? I'm not your blasted sergeant," Sevets grumbled.

"Copy that!" Damper trilled happily.

Ando shifted from where he was laying on his stomach, propped up by his elbows, macrobinoculars up to his helmet's visor, peering across the desert. Sevets laid to his left and Damper to his right, poised in similar positions. Sevets was correct; just barely visible on the horizon, right on the edge of his viewing capability, the camp could be seen.

"What _are_ they doing, Sev?" Ando questioned.

"Same thing we're doing," Sevets said grimly, lowering his macrobinoculars. "Watching."

"Think they're going to try something?" Ando asked. "Raise this camp?"

"Well I can only figure that's what's going on," Sevets speculated. "What's the queen suppose to do if the refugee camps aren't safe anymore? She'll sign up to the Separatists, that's what, because they'll move off the moons and go after the planet where _she_ and most of the population is, eventually. She's soft; if the casualties mount much more, she'll give in."

Sevets pushed himself up and Ando and Damper lowered their macrobinoculars to watch him.

"I'm going to the other cliff side," Sevets murmured in his usual quiet tone that belied the strength beneath it. "I want to get closer."

They were laid up on the cliff face attached to the camp, meters and meters above ground level. Damper rolled onto his back.

"This one is higher anyways, Sevets," Damper said.

"Call me old fashioned," Sevets replied. He hauled up a large weapon and fired it into the rock at his feet. The hook buried itself in, attached to a strong line. Then Sevets lined up the shot at the other cliff face. He squeezed the trigger and the other side sailed away. A few moments passed before they heard the echo of the_ tnk_ as it attached to the other side. Sevets wound it taut.

"Be back soon," he said, and hooked a cord from his belt to the line. He began to slide.

Ando and Damper brought the macrobinoculars back up to their visors. Ando heard something in his helmet click, and he knew he was on a private line with Damper.

"So, how'd it go?" Damper asked him.

"How'd what go? Ando murmured, rotating through zoom settings.

"The Mandalorian girl," Damper clarified. "Was it her?"

Ando paused. "Yes."

"And what are you going to do about her?" Damper pushed.

Ando swallowed. "I'm going to let her stay for now."

"_What?"_ Damper burst, tearing his macrobinoculars from his visor.

"_Ow!"_ Ando grabbed the sides of his helmet. "Not so loud, you're on a comm..."

"Okay, just explain to me what is going through your head," Damper chuckled disbelievingly, rolling over onto his side so he could face him.

"You know, I don't know why I take you places," Ando jibed, rolling similarly.

"Don't go all 'superior officer' on me, Ando, either adhere to it or don't," Damper snapped.

"She's here to visit," Ando explained. "She's not on a job, it's not for the Seps, it's personal. She just came to visit."

"And you trust her," Damper stated, partially in disbelieving query. "You trust her enough to believe her."

"You weren't there, Damper," Ando said calmly. "She could have offed me dozens of times."

"This is so bad," Damper moaned loudly, safe in the confines of their helmets. "You're going to ask me to keep it a secret!"

"You've got to trust me, Damper."

"No!" Damper burst. He laughed. "Ando, what happened to _regulations?_ Huh? How about common sense? If not for our sake then for _hers_. This is not a safe place, and it's going to get real bad, real quick."

Ando didn't respond for a moment.

"She can take care of herself," he said softly.

Damper brandished a wide arm.

"Not with her armor down the _ravine_, she can't!"

"Damper-!" Ando stopped himself, taking a deep breath. "Sorry," he said. He started over. "What am I supposed to do? Send her away? Even if I could get her off planet, I don't honestly know if I _want_ to."

Damper was silent for a moment, and Ando knew exactly what the expression on his face was behind his visor. He was going to cave. Damper sighed.

"This is so bad," Damper said.

"It's just a visit."

"You owe me my own ship, Ando."

Ando grinned. "I owe you _two_ ships."

"Yeah, yeah..." Damper rolled back over onto his stomach and brought the macrobinoculars up to his visor again.

"Of course she'd like _you_," Damper grumbled. "Only _you_ would get lucky enough and be _stupid_ enough to get stranded alone in the middle of the woods with a girl like her and not do anything about it..."

"Damper!" Ando cried, cheeks turning red.

"It's the uniform," Damper concluded bitterly, still looking across the desert. "It's always that _blasted_ rank striping and kama."

Ando raised an eyebrow. "That's a little melodramatic, don't you think?"

"Ando, my friend, melodrama is what I _do_."

Ando rolled over and brought his own macrobinoculars back up to his visor.

"It's not like that at all," Ando said.

And yet he couldn't wait to get off this blasted cliff and back to the camp where Vhe'dn was.

**********

"The senator is coming here?" Kael-Shei repeated. "Is he out of his mind?"

"Apparently, sir," the trooper nicknamed 'Nach' confirmed. "We just received the message."

"He's a fool," Kael-Shei said, following Nach back to the tent. He swept in and slapped the play button to watch the hologram for himself. He felt Anon come up behind him. He watched the playback with a disgruntled expression. The transmission ended.

"A fool," Kael-Shei repeated. "He's nothing but a pawn; him and the queen are _siblings_. The Separatists will be on us in a heartbeat."

"We've been trying to hail him, sir," Nach said, hands clasped behind his back. "He's not responding."

"He'll be here by tomorrow night at this rate..." Kael-Shei murmured. He growled in frustration. "He's putting every life here in danger!"

Kael-Shei began to pace.

"Master?" Anon questioned gently.

"Get me Sevets," he said.

Nach pressed a few buttons, then indicated for him to speak.

"Aa to Commander Sevets," he said.

There was only a short wait. He heard ragged breathing on the other side, then Sevets spoke.

"Sevets to Aa," came Sevets's response. "Sir, it looks like we were right; the Seps are setting up a camp."

Kael-Shei sighed unhappily.

"Well, I'm about to add to the bad news," Kael-Shei said, leaning onto the console setup. "The senator's coming here."

There was a pause.

"General, with all due respect, you're _letting_ him?"

"Not by choice, Commander. He invited himself. I'm not sure he's the type who will listen much to _reason_, either," Kael-Shei said. "We haven't been able to reply."

"What you're saying is that you'd like me to be there."

"Yes," Kael-Shei confirmed, albeit a little reluctantly. "If he won't listen to _me_, well... you're a lot better at handling _delicate_ situations."

There was a click. "By delicate, you mean threat giving?"

"_Yes_, Lieutenant," Kael-Shei said with a hint of distaste. "Thank you for clarifying my purposeful euphemism."

"Ando, stay off this line unless you're invited," Sevets's voice snapped. "We're on our way, General. Sevets out."

Kael-Shei sighed.

**********

"Sir, I'm going to have to adamantly request you reconsider," Kael-Shei stated.

The hologram of Senator Lin Pentel stared calmly back at him.

"I respect your advice, Master Jedi, but I have made my decision," Pentel said. "Staying safe on Coruscant while my people suffer is cowardly."

"Senator, your _duty_ is on Coruscant," Kael-Shei argued, growing frustrated. "You're of no use here; you are a liability."

Pentel seemed ruffled.

"Master Jedi, you cannot change my decision. Staying at the senate will do no good."

"And neither will coming here," Sevets stepped in with a firm voice. "You're nothing but a target."

Pentel stared at Sevets with distaste.

"Who is this?" he asked Kael-Shei.

Sevets answered for himself. "_This_ is Commander A-70."

"_Politics_ is nothing you could understand, clone," Pentel hissed.

Sevets leaned on the console.

"Then why don't _you_ stick to politics and let _me_ run this war, like it's meant to be," Sevets threatened between clenched teeth in a voice that made even Kael-Shei's blood run cold. Pentel looked taken aback, almost indignant. Sevets continued.

"You are _not_ welcome in my war zone, Senator, and if you come even _near_ this moon and put _my men_ in danger, I swear to your queen I will sooner have you blasted from the sky than see you become a pawn," Sevets alliterated, icy calm, like a bomb waiting to go off. He didn't have to raise his voice to be terrifying. Kael-Shei heard Ando swallow behind him. "Are we clear?"

Pentel steamed.

"Perfectly," he hissed, trying to retain what he had left of dignity. He addressed Kael-Shei. "Master Jedi, I implore you to, from now on, keep your soldiers on a shorter leash."

Kale-Shei stared coldly back. "I implore_ you_ not to take on a disgruntled ARC trooper."

A dark expression fell over Pentel's face.

"Good day," he said, and cut the transmission.

Sevets exhaled a loud breath and pushed off the comm unit.

"Think he'll stay away, General?" Sevets asked him, immediately reverting back to that polite, almost soft-spoken tone.

"We can hope so," Kael-Shei sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "That was quite the show, Commander."

"Apologies, sir," Sevets said gently, straightening. "Should I not have been so harsh?"

"Well, I was afraid he might have called your bluff."

Sevets let out a noise that was something like a chuckle.

"General," he said, and moved for the exit, "I wasn't bluffing."

He swept out, Ando on his heel.

**********

It didn't take Ando very long to find Vhe'dn; he got the impression that she was keeping an eye on him.

"So, tell me what's going on," she said conversationally. "I can tell all the troopers are jittery."

"Let's go for a walk," Ando suggested, indicating they should move away from general earshot.

Vhe'dn nodded, then linked her arm though his and began to lead him away. The feeling was different, but not unpleasant; Ando figured they must have looked pretty ridiculous, being a generally tall man in white armor and Vhe'dn being a short girl in farmer's clothing. People didn't seem to be taking much notice of them.

"Sevets looked tired," Vhe'dn commented.

"He has a lot of things to worry about," Ando explained.

Vhe'dn snorted.

"That's the kind of excuse you give to any old person. I know life, Ando; give it to me straight."

Ando considered.

"There's a Separatist camp going up from viewing distance; we think they may be planning to attack the camp," Ando said grimly.

"And they've been doing this as terrorist attacks to get the queen to accept Separatist occupation, right?" Vhe'dn tried to piece information together. In the back of his mind, Ando felt odd telling her; yes, she was a _friend_, but... old habits died hard.

"Yes," he confirmed.

"Because it's on a trade route."

"And for the money."

"Ah," Vhe'dn said. She didn't seem too preoccupied by the notion. Ando found himself distracted by observing the tattoos on the back of her hands, wrapped around his arm plate. For a moment, he couldn't recall if he had ever seen her without her gloves on, until a drug-induced memory clawed its way to the surface and he remembered the stitches.

It was amazing how nondescript Vhe'dn could look without her armor on. She was small, ignorable. The only thing that Ando felt belied her was her gaze; her eyes still had that sharpness that made you feel scrutinized. The dark black accents around the edges from some sort of marking tool didn't help.

"Tell me about Sevets," Vhe'dn said. Curious, Ando replied.

"He's... our commander. I grew up with him."

"Are you brothers?"

"You might say that."

"He worries a lot," Vhe'dn observed.

"He's like a big brother, more than anything," Ando mused. "He chooses to worry about everyone, and keeps us out of trouble."

"I see," Vhe'dn said. Ando glanced down at her, and there was a sympathetic expression on her face. For some reason, it rubbed him the wrong way, but he didn't know what the feeling was.

Damper was walking in their direction, moving to go past them. He had a knowing, mischievous smile on his face.

"Ando," he acknowledged as he went past. He winked at Vhe'dn. "Ma'am."

Ando sighed to himself. Vhe'dn glanced back to watch Damper, then looked up at Ando with a question on her face.

Ando nodded. "He knows who you are.

Vhe'dn looked uneasy. "You told him?"

"I trust him," Ando answered instead.

Vhe'dn seemed to accept it.

"So what else is going on?" she asked.

"Very perceptive," Ando commented, amused.

"Nosy, more like."

"The senator tried to visit the camp," Ando explained. "We'd be better off painting a target in the sand."

Vhe'dn grimaced. "And?"

"And we think Sevets scared him off, but we're not sure yet."

Vhe'dn laughed, and he found himself enjoying the sound.

"So," she said, a hint of mischief in her voice. "Are we allowed to get out of here?"

Ando glanced around.

"I don't think so. I have to be around in case I'm needed."

Vhe'dn seemed disgruntled.

"Well, can you ever?" she asked.

"Not right now."

"But ever?"

"Maybe," Ando conceded, trying to escape the conversation. He noticed Sevets watching him from the tents. He drew away from Vhe'dn. "But right now, I have to go."

Vhe'dn looked around his shoulder at Sevets. She nodded, then smiled. "We'll talk later."

She moved off in a different direction. Ando returned to Sevets to see if he could be of any use.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

The refugees generally ate separately from the clones, not because there was any rule, but because that was how they tended to gravitate; Ando got the impression that most of them were unnerved by the troopers. He was used to that reaction from civilians, even _Jedi_ when he had first met them, because no one ever seemed quite sure _what_ they were or what sort of a being was underneath the armor. The refugees always seemed to be trying to peer through his visor, searching for eyes when he tried to communicate with them. Ando found their inattention frustrating, so he tried to leave his helmet off as much as possible. It didn't improve the situation much, as then they just seemed to be distracted by his humanity, as if they weren't expecting it; that, or the stark white scars on his face, or the way he looked just like everyone else...

So Ando was not, of course, surprised when someone dropped a tray down across from him and it happened to be Vhe'dn. He allowed himself a small, humored smile as she sat down.

"Your table's over there," Ando indicated with a utensil the table full of farmers. Vhe'dn just gave him a threatening gaze and continued on with arranging her tray. Ando chuckled.

He looked at her curiously. "Are you darker than yesterday?"

Vhe'dn looked at her arms.

"I tan easily," she stated. She picked up a spoon.

"Any more news on our favorite senator?" Vhe'dn asked conversationally, picking up a piece of food.

Ando shook his head. "Not since yesterday."

Vhe'dn grimaced as she bit into the food.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing really," Vhe'dn sighed. "This place is just the center of non-entertainment in the galaxy, and the food is terrible."

Ando looked at her disbelievingly.

"I think the food's amazing..."

"_You_ would, Ando."

Ando found himself liking Vhe'dn's attention. He didn't know why it was, but being singled out was much more enjoyable than he would have ever thought. He wouldn't have figured that it could be so exhilarating.

"So when are you going to free up?" Vhe'dn asked him, concentrating on her food.

"How do you mean?" Ando returned.

"I _mean_, when do you have a little free time?" Vhe'dn elaborated, looking up at him from under dark lashes. It distracted him for a moment. He shook himself.

"When I eat and sleep," Ando stated objectively, pushing food around his tray. When he glanced up, Vhe'dn was giving him a look. He paused.

"What?"

Vhe'dn laughed softly.

"You're so modest," she said. She smiled patiently, chidingly. "I _meant_ real time. Relax time. Time to do what you want, not what you need."

Ando looked at her curiously.

"I don't much," he said.

"What could you possibly be doing?" Vhe'dn demanded. "All you troopers do is stand around looking pretty."

"I monitor all of the Separatist movements in this planetary system," Ando said, slightly offended. "And I act as medic, and it's _my_ sorry butt that has to go retrieve the refugees in the first place, and that's never as easy as it seems; that's what _ARC_ stands for."

Ando fell silent when Vhe'dn was still just smiling at him.

"I know all about responsibility, Ando, but you can't take even half a standard hour? Skip a meal and enjoy a ration cube, for old time's sake?" Vhe'dn asked, knitting the tips of her fingers together and resting her chin on them. She always seemed to know how to leave him flat-footed.

"No," he stated.

Vhe'dn laughed. " You didn't even consider it."

"I've got a lot of things to concentrate on," Ando hesitated, looking back to his tray and moving food around it. "I don't have time for..."

He trailed off as he watched Vhe'dn place her hand over his, lying on the table. It was tiny, compared. Her tattoos were diamond-shaped, black. He suddenly realized he had stopped talking and looked up at Vhe'dn, embarrassed. She was just looking at him with a soft expression that approached sympathy.

"Look for it, okay?" she asked. She glanced to the side. Ando followed her eyes and saw Sevets across the way look back to what he was working on. He felt Vhe'dn slide her hand off his, and it still felt like a burn, even through his glove. He looked back to her.

"Keep an open mind, eh?" she said, then smiled and stood with her tray. Ando watched her go with what he usually felt when they finished a conversation: confusion. He sighed.

It did, however, surprise him when Kael-Shei Aa's young Padawan, Anon Ilia, filled the seat across from him. She didn't talk much, and when she did, it was usually only to her Master.

"Master Aa said you were a gifted medic," Anon said softly.

Ando gave her a friendly smile. "I like to think so, ma'am."

Anon seemed interested. "I have a knack for healing," she explained, "but that's just a natural affinity. I feel my way through it, but I don't actually know much about it."

Ando was intrigued.

"Healing ability is pretty rare, even for a Jedi, isn't it?" Ando commented; he was almost a bit jealous, but he tried not to let onto it.

Anon seemed happy he asked. "Relatively," she said. She glanced around, then leaned forward eagerly and smiled at him. "I was actually hoping you could teach me some things." She seemed to reconsider. "I mean, I know you're busy..."

Ando shook his head and smiled lightly.

"It has a natural application," he explained. "We're in a war; injuries happen. I can teach you as it's needed."

Anon looked satisfied. Ando was happy for that, because she seemed so glum otherwise. Losing her first master must have been hard on her.

Anon looked around.

"You spend a lot of time with that other Zabrak woman," Anon observed suddenly.

Ando dropped his spoon. He recovered and cleared his throat.

"She's very curious about the clone army," Ando said, concentrating intensely on his food; technically, it was true. Anon was silent, so Ando relaxed.

He suddenly felt a growing pressure inside his head, like a finger prodding him. He paused. Something snapped inside and he dropped his utensils, hands flying to his head with a surprised little inhalation of breath. Anon jumped.

"You felt that?" Anon asked him, distraught.

Ando rubbed his temples, the sharp pain ebbing. "I would say so, _ma'am_," he said, trying not to let ice slip into his tone and failing. Only one other Jedi had ever made the mistake of trying to invade his mind without his permission, and had been just as surprised as Anon when it hadn't worked. "You should know I've been trained extensively to resist such influence."

Anon looked absolutely deflated. Ando was ambushed by sympathy. He sighed.

"It's a common courtesy, ma'am," Ando said gently. "If you want to know something, just ask, and if they aren't willing to divulge, respect it."

Anon nodded soberly. Ando hesitated.

"So what is it you don't want to divulge?" she tested slyly. Ando squirmed; so Anon did have a bit of spunk hidden somewhere inside.

"Nothing, ma'am," he avoided the question, then stood with his tray. "Want to learn how to change dressings on a burn wound?" he asked. Anon looked up, curious. Ando jerked his head over one shoulder. "Come on."

Anon smiled lightly and followed him.

**********

Sevets watched a shadow fall over him from where he was crouched on the ground, tinkering with a piece of faulty equipment; he had a datapad plugged in, attempting to diagnose problems and failing. Whoever it was chose to loom, blocking the light. Finally, he looked up, intent on shooing them away.

It was the Zabrak girl who hung around Ando all the time. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was staring down at him with scrutinizing eyes. Sevets braced his hands on his knee.

"Do you need something?" he asked with forced politeness.

The girl just flashed him an intelligent, placating smile that he found instantly aggravating.

"I was actually going to ask you the same," she said; she had a rimmer's accent, far removed from Coruscant and still slightly dialectically different from most of the other refugees.

Sevets narrowed his eyes at her.

"How do you mean?" he asked.

The girl indicated what he was working on.

"Do you want me to look at that?" she offered.

Sevets chuckled.

"_No thanks_," he muttered. The girl's eyebrows knit together just slightly. Sevets turned back to the device. To his ire, she crouched down next to him.

"I'm Vhe'dn," she said. Sevets was silent, instead concentrating on keycodes. The device flashed another negative return. He hissed in frustration.

"You know, I really could help you with that," Vhe'dn drawled. Sevets flashed her a scowl.

"I don't have time to chat," he snapped.

"Well then, let me give you some," Vhe'dn said, and grabbed the screen. She tried to take it from him, but he just tightened his grip. She looked at him.

"_Thanks_, but I'd prefer if you'd just let me do my job," Sevets placated. The girl irritated him in all the right and wrong places, and she was just so _different_ from the other refugees that he didn't quite trust her; it was her eyes, too sharp for his comfort.

She scowled at him. "Don't be so obstinate, I'm trying to help you; what harm could I possibly cause that isn't already there?" she posed the question.

"Plenty, I'm sure," Sevets replied without hesitation.

"What do you have against me?" she demanded, letting go of the screen. "I've done nothing to you."

Sevets didn't exactly have an answer, so he said nothing; it didn't bother him. Vhe'dn stood in a huff.

"You don't like me hanging around Ando," she observed.

Sevets stood and faced her, towering over her.

"Fourteen doesn't need any distractions," Sevets elaborated.

"Taking interest is not a distraction," Vhe'dn argued. She sounded adamant. "It's not your job to control him."

Sevets fumed; civilians were infuriating; they were always so righteous, so opinionated, so _blind_, and they always thought they knew everything.

"It's my job to keep him and everyone else here alive," Sevets said, jerking a thumb toward his chest.

Vhe'dn held her arms out to the side.

"Look at me!" she ordered. "You think I'll get this camp destroyed by showing a little compassion?"

He pointed an angry finger at her. "He doesn't _need_ your sympathy, and _don't_ you interfere with how I run this camp," he hissed.

A knowing, lopsided smile just slowly formed across Vhe'dn's face. "That's just like Ando," she murmured.

Sevets scowled, then spun around and crouched back down to the ground.

"You don't know him," Sevets muttered, grabbing up the datapad.

Vhe'dn exhaled slowly. She crouched back down to him.

"I know him," she said quietly, in the way people did when they were being insightful. "And I know _you_, too."

Sevets just stared at her with a threatening expression that said _stop_. Vhe'dn held her hand out for the device.

"Swallow your pride and let someone else take the responsibility for once," she said. It confused him, because it wasn't said with anger, nor satisfaction. If anything, it was said with underlying pity, and Sevets didn't know whether or not to be angry about that.

So he studied her face. Vhe'dn stared calmly back at him as he conducted his obvious evaluation. The general shape of her face looked far more aristocratically set than most of the other refugees, and she had lined her eyes with a dark sort of kohl; he wondered if it had something to do with being a Zabrak, in exchange for facial tattoos, of which she had none. It had the overall affect of sharp intelligence, almost an elitism written all across her face.

Eyes that reflected something very similar to his own.

Sevets breathed in, then exhaled slowly. He held out the screen to her. Vhe'dn smiled and took it from him, shifting her position. She began to tap on the datapad.

"What makes you think you can fix it?" Sevets asked her, not necessarily as a challenge.

"I generally know my way around tech," Vhe'dn murmured, concentrating on her work, testing around the device.

Sevets humored her, not expecting any result. "How?"

"Evaporators, mostly," she responded without hesitation. It flashed a negative return and her eyebrows knit together slightly. "Stubborn little thing."

"Here," Sevets said, holding his hand out. Vhe'dn avoided it.

"Wait, wait, wait, let me give it one more shot," she said, amused. "I'll get this."

It was a challenge for her now, a game. Sevets grew tired.

"You had your go, now-"

Sevets was interrupted by a light _ping_ noise, and then suddenly a loud whir as the machine started up, running strong and smooth. Vhe'dn smiled up at him.

"You were saying?" she said, unplugging the datapad and standing, offering it to him. Sevets accepted it with a commending little scowl.

"Lucky guess," he commended, reevaluating her.

Vhe'dn just gave him a saucy sort of expression.

"_Please_, you don't have to be the best at everything," she said.

Sevets sighed; she was wrong, of course. He _did_, because that's what kept men alive.

"Okay," he conceded, resting his hands on the sides of his belt, "you got me this once."

"Right," Vhe'dn said. She smiled, "but you loosened it, right?"

Something almost like the hint of a smile touched the side of Sevets's lips.

"Something like that," he murmured, looking around the camp. He looked back down to Vhe'dn.

"I've got work to do now," he said. He hesitated, then added, "Don't take Ando away from his, either."

He began to walk away.

"What does that mean?" Vhe'dn called after him, not in any way that was challenging or accusing, but as an honest question.

Sevets talked over his shoulder, not slowing down. "It _means talk only_, and don't disturb him when he's busy."

Vhe'dn didn't follow him and didn't say anything more. Sevets hoped she'd listen.

Ando didn't need the distraction of another Castilla, and nor did Sevets.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Time passed astonishingly slow in a camp seemed poised to move at the first sign of real relief, and the only escape Vhe'dn had from the boredom were a few stolen conversations with Ando; but Ando was, more often than not, busy, and had seemed to have developed a slight protective streak for her, which basically meant that he wouldn't let her help with anything.

So Vhe'dn tried her best to keep busy, fixing anything and everything she could. Yesterday, it had been the astromech droid that Fours had been particularly fond of. His memory had been acting faulty, and Vhe'dn had watched Fours become more and more distraught as the droid had a harder and harder time remembering that he knew him. So Vhe'dn had offered to check him out; she'd always had a knack with interfaces. Fours had been thrilled when the droid had shown considerable improvement. Vhe'dn was rather fond of the man; he was curious, and seemed fascinated with everything new; he flocked to concepts quicker than senators flocked to credit chips.

It was an hour or two past midday now, and Vhe'dn caught sight of Ando, Damper, and Sevets sitting on a group of crates in a loose circle. They seemed enthusiastic; Damper seemed to be telling a story that required brandishing wide arms, and Ando was laughing. Even Sevets appeared to be allowing himself a subtle grin. The scene made her smile; it was comforting to know that such abused and mistreated men could still function so normally. Vhe'dn had done a lot of studying about the upbringing of the clones since she'd been on Coruscant, and most of her searching wasn't legal for a reason, it seemed; if the nature of the clones had been common knowledge, maybe the war wouldn't be taking place.

Vhe'dn hesitated over whether or not to approach the brothers, but in the end, she found her feet taking her toward them anyways. Sevets sobered slightly when he caught sight of her. Ando smiled at her, and Damper just grinned in a way that alluded to the assumption that he was about to say something at her expense.

"Hello, Vhe'dn!" he greeted her cheerfully. "You build us that new comm tower yet?"

So her reputation was preceding her; Vhe'dn made a mental note to tone it down a bit. She smiled.

"I'm not quite sure I'm qualified to do that," she jested; she _was_, of course. "But you get me the supplies and I'll try. I like to keep busy."

"Sure you can lift the pieces?" Damper teased. Vhe'dn flashed him a broad smile as she came to a stop in front of them.

"Sure you can handle the sophistication of the controls?" she fired back. "Keypads get a little hard to follow when they exceed three buttons..."

Damper scowled as Ando began to laugh at his expense; Vhe'dn even managed to merit a stifled chuckle from Sevets.

"What's wrong?" Vhe'dn laughed, addressing Damper. "You've nothing to say, for once?"

"Naw," Ando said, chuckling. He grinned. "Damper just doesn't like it when anyone's funnier than he is."

Damper shoved him playfully.

"I just don't want to disrespect my elders by embarrassing her with my mastery of _wit_," Damper said theatrically. Vhe'dn smirked in amusement, hands on her hips, taking the side effect stab to her heart in her step. She seemed to have won Damper over at this point, but Sevets was yet another story; he was more bullheaded and stubborn than even Ando had been. He watched the whole exchange go down with a general reservedness.

"So why do you hang around us clones so much, ma'am?" Damper continued on. Vhe'dn started; she couldn't understand how him and Sevets got along; Damper was mouthier than _she_ was. Vhe'dn stared at him curiously; he knew who and what she was, so why was he posing such a risky question? She wondered what the veiled motive was behind it.

"Curiosity, I suppose," she said slowly. She noticed Sevets was giving her a scrutinizing stare that she wasn't about to meet. "I guess I don't relate very well with most of the other people here." She tapped one of her horns lightly.

"Yeah..." Damper mused. He grinned suddenly and shoved Ando with his elbow. "I think it's just because Ando has a thing for alien women."

Ando suddenly flushed very red, or as red as someone as dark as him could.

"Damper, that's not funny..." Ando said, shifting, avoiding her eyes. Sevets cleared his throat and slid off his crate. Vhe'dn's eyebrows knit together slightly, and she glanced between the brothers, not sure whether to find humor in the situation, or dig for what was making all of them so edgy; it couldn't be just her, could it?

"Damper, you need to go check the perimeter alarms, don't you?" Sevets said quietly in his dangerous voice. Damper blanched and leaned on his elbow.

"Yeah. _Sir_," he added quickly. "I'll get to that."

Sevets jerked his head. "Ando. I need your help."

Ando slid to the ground and followed swiftly after Sevets, seeming happy for an excuse to escape the situation. Vhe'dn watched them leave, feeling her curiosity threatening to take over. Instead, she walked over and slid up onto the crate next to Damper, who was lounging casually, fidgeting with something small in his hands.

"You obviously said something you shouldn't have," she remarked, not really looking at him.

"Ma'am, that's eighty percent of everything I say," Damper said, looking over at her with a lopsided, closed-lipped smile, the same as Ando's. He didn't seem ashamed at all.

"What'd it mean?" she asked.

"What did what mean?"

" 'Alien women'? " she quoted. "You didn't mean just me, did you?"

Damper didn't say anything, instead staring at the earring between his fingers. He jammed it back in his ear. "You got anymore of that uj cake?" he asked suddenly.

Vhe'dn laughed. "He shared it with you guys?"

Damper nodded.

Smiling, Vhe'dn dug in one of her belt pockets.

"I knew he was a gem," she said fondly.

Damper took the food from her and picked at the wrapping.

"You have something for Ando, don't you?" Damper remarked softly, paying an intense amount of focus to unwrapping the dessert.

Vhe'dn paused.

"Like, a _real_ something," Damper mumbled.

Vhe'dn was quiet for a moment, chewing on her lip. She looked down at her hands in her lap and flexed her fingers, watching the diamond tattoos shift.

"Acute observation," she finally said. She heard Damper exhale heavily. He looked at her and she met his eyes.

"You know what you're getting into, right?" he said, not necessarily trying to scare her off.

"What, you're his big brother now, too?" she questioned with a small smile.

"Naw, we're more like... _twins_."

Vhe'dn laughed. "Yeah, nothing would have made me think _that_..."

Damper joined her laughing softly, then pushed himself upright.

"The question still stands, though," he said.

"You sure are mouthy for a clone," Vhe'dn observed, avoiding his speech. She half expected him to stick his tongue out at her.

"I've spent a lot of time with ARCs," was his simple excuse. "Now stop avoiding it; he's a clone trooper. You're a_ Mandalorian_. Lots of people would see that as fraternizing with the enemy, not to mention how difficult it is to keep in touch with someone who, by society's terms, isn't even a _someone_."

"You're smarter than you let on, Damper."

Damper grimaced. "What is this, a gab contest?"

"Only if you want it to be."

Damper laughed.

"Never mind," he mumbled.

"I know what I'm getting into," Vhe'dn sighed, looking away. She swung her leg, the back of her boot tapping against the crate beneath her. "I can handle it."

"Can he?" Damper questioned.

Vhe'dn watched the sand swirl.

"That's his choice," she said quietly.

Damper hopped to his feet, as if stamping out the conversation. "I've got to go check those alarms," he said, finally biting into the uj cake.

Vhe'dn jumped after him. "Take me with."

Damper raised an eyebrow at her. "No."

"Oh, come on," Vhe'dn said, pacing over to him. "I've seen you pacing around this place; you're restless. You're a pilot; you're used to being relatively free to move around. Now take that restlessness, multiply it by the biggest number that comes to mind and slap that irritation on me. I'm going crazy trapped here. Just let me tag along; I can even help."

Damper looked around in indecision, then looked back down to her.

"All right," he said reluctantly. "But if Sevets asks me about it, I'm ratting you out."

Vhe'dn smiled. "Done."

Damper grimaced and began to pace over to the speeders, finishing off the cake. Vhe'dn tore back to her tent to scoop up goggles. Damper was prepping when she returned, pulling a hood over her neck. She positioned it over her head and secured it into place with the goggles. She hopped onto the back of the speeder. Damper gave her a rueful expression.

"What?" she asked.

"You're not really what I expected," he said, winding something around his arm. Troopers passed by, not paying any attention to their conversation.

"How do you mean?" Vhe'dn asked him.

"Well..." Damper said, throwing the fuel lead to the side, "Ando had said you were chatty and unbelievably persuasive without reason, but I still had an image of a trigger-happy, illiterate scamp in my mind."

Vhe'dn laughed, humored by the description. "Surprised I could be so... functional?"

"In no other terms," Damper said, dropping down into place on the seat beside her, "yes."

"They certainly don't speak very well of Mandalorians on Kamino," she stated.

"No one does," Damper said, spinning in the seat and throwing his leg over the other side. "But you know this."

He pulled his helmet over his head and waved to the sentry. The door inched open. Vhe'dn pulled her goggles into place.

"It's all an act, isn't it?" Damper murmured back to her.

"What is?" Vhe'dn asked quietly, placing her hands on the sides of his armor.

"The gusto; the talk. The obnoxious air you put on. The impulsiveness," Damper outlined, shifting and prepping the controls.

Vhe'dn allowed herself a small, satisfied smile. "Some of it."

Damper said nothing else. The speeder began to move. When they were out the door, Damper began to rapidly hit switches.

"I'd hold on, if I were you," he stated, his grin obvious.

Why had she done this? Flying was terrifying.

**********

Vhe'dn flung herself off the speeder, her feet hitting solid ground, feeling her lungs clutching. She picked at her shirt around the sternum, trying to calm her breathing. Damper was laughing as he casually slid off the seat.

"You're not so good at trusting your life to someone else," he laughed. Vhe'dn flashed him a scowl that she realized was hidden behind her goggles. She pulled them up to her forehead, over her hood.

"Especially when they have no sense of their own mortality," she wheezed, trying to straighten her posture; she was bent over slightly, legs refusing to work properly when there was so much adrenaline racing through her.

"You're not so fond of flying, are you?" he asked, humor evident in his voice. He paced around, taking in his surroundings. They were in what Vhe'dn would have described as a butte forest; large, tall spires of rock shot high into the sky all around them, disguising much of what went on in them from the camp; a great place to set up discrete perimeter alarms.

"Don't make me admit that," Vhe'dn threatened, exhaling a deep breath and forcing herself to stand up straight, her muscles still extremely tense. She held her eyes closed to the count of four, then opened them, breathing calmly. "Dad wouldn't be happy to be reminded."

"Your dad?"

"Hardcore pilot; you'd like him," Vhe'dn explained, pacing around, still a bit breathless.

"Really?" Damper sounded suddenly interested. Vhe'dn looked over at him. "What does he do?"

"Smuggling, mostly. He's not really a Mandalorian anymore, not since Mom died, as he wasn't born into the culture; _she_ brought him there," Vhe'dn said, "but he won his fair share of speeder races back before Mom; and probably after. I think his ship makes point seven past lightspeed... or was it point six? He wouldn't be happy I don't remember..."

Vhe'dn couldn't see his expression behind his helmet, but Damper seemed eager to continue the conversation when suddenly some rocks broke loose from up a spire and came tumbling down meters ahead of them. They both spun at the noise, then looked at each other.

"Let's get the job done, shall we?" Damper said. Vhe'dn nodded.

"Here," he tossed her a small drive. Vhe'dn snatched it from the air and looked down at it. "That'll get you into the alarms," he explained. "Just switch them off, reboot, then turn them back on again and run the diagnostic."

Vhe'dn closed her hand around it. "Why do you trust me?" she asked him.

Damper bent down to an alarm.

"Because Ando does," he said simply.

Vhe'dn nodded to herself. Perhaps it was a luxury, being part of an overly obedient army; betrayals had to be at almost zero. She paced over to another alarm and unlocked the keypad. She switched it off, then started the reboot.

"Hold on," Damper said. "What's this?"

Vhe'dn turned around. "Something wrong?"

"Not sure."

"Let me see," Vhe'dn said, beginning to pace for him. There was suddenly a loud, electronic noise from down the rows of spires. Vhe'dn paused, turning to look.

She was suddenly caught from the left by an incredible force, sending her flying. Her ears were filled with a roar of noise, most of it crumbling rock. She was blinded, coughing, tumbling, completely confused and disoriented. Was she on the ground again? Vhe'dn pushed herself up, feeling rubble roll off her body. What had just happened?

She tried yelling for Damper, but just began to cough from the amount of thick dust in the air. It was like a sandstorm. She pulled her goggles down over her eyes and pulled her hood over her mouth.

"_Damper!"_ she yelled, the noise still too much for her to shout over. She could feel grit hitting her arms, stinging with every impact. She stumbled around, unable to see where to step on the uneven ground, covered in loose rock.

It was an explosion, and it had been purposeful; way too small to be an accident. No, it was meant not to be seen. _Separatists._

Vhe'dn screamed louder.

"I'm here..." the voice was weak and groggy, but she had heard it. The dust swirled and she caught a glance of Damper's white form on the ground.

"Damper!" she yelled, and scrambled to his side. He was on his back, partially covered in rubble. He tried to push himself up as she approached and failed, clutching her hand when she fell down to his side.

"Are you all right?" she asked in a rush.

"For now," he gasped. His helmet had managed to stay on. "I might be mince inside this armor and not know it yet, though..."

"Come on," Vhe'dn ordered, pulling on him, "help get the rocks off, we have to go, _now_."

Damper wasn't listening. "Go fly back to camp, tell them they're coming," he rambled, words slightly slurred, doing little to push the rubble off himself.

"_Hell no_, I can't _pilot!"_ Vhe'dn burst. She stood and pulled hard on his arm, then fell back down and began trying to muscle the rocks off. "Now quit whining and _help me_ or_ everyone's_ dead, because I'm not leaving, and I'm sure as hell way too obstinate for you to convince me otherwise! _Katini!_ Come on!"

Damper took the hint and began to help her with the rocks in a slight daze. They managed to get most of them off. Vhe'dn pulled him backwards and he helped with shifting, shimmying back until he was free.

"Come on," Vhe'dn ordered, the dust beginning to clear. She grabbed him around the waist and helped him limp over to the undamaged speeder as best she could, practically careening in their rush. Damper was panting, but aware enough to concentrate; his armor had apparently held up against the rock. Vhe'dn leapt onto the speeder behind him. They began to move, and quickly picked up speed.

Suddenly, red bolts of energy began to zip past them.

"Hold on!" Damper yelled. He began to weave back and forth. Vhe'dn caught sight of Damper's blaster, strapped to his thigh. She grabbed it and yanked it out of the holster.

"Hey!" Damper protested.

Vhe'dn whipped the blaster around behind her and began to squeeze off shots. There were only three speeders, flying hot pursuit behind them. Vhe'dn lined up a shot and squeezed the trigger. She missed as Damper swerved, and let loose a volley of shots in her frustration. She managed to knock one droid from its speeder. She nearly slipped and yelled as she brought her arm back around to hug onto Damper.

"Be careful!" he advised.

Vhe'dn swore at him for the obviousness of his comment, calling him something she'd probably feel bad about later. She brought the blaster back around, burying mad shots into the machine of the frontal rider, ignoring the shots flying past her getting closer and closer to their mark.

The nose of the lead speeder suddenly crumpled inward and dropped back, slamming into the other one. Both speeders went tumbling to the ground in a mass of flame and spare parts. Vhe'dn whooped in relief, then grabbed on tight to Damper, suddenly aware of how fast he was going.

"Nice job!" he commended, and gunned the machine even faster, tearing across the open ground. The camp got rapidly closer.

"Just hurry up," Vhe'dn shouted, not quite sure he could even hear her. "This is going to get worse, yet."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Kael-Shei stood suddenly, alarmed.

"Something's wrong," he said out loud, a wave of energy washing over him in the Force.

Sevets's head snapped up in a swift motion to stare hard at him from where he was sitting, hunched over a holomap. Similarly, Ando exhaled hard and spun his chair around to look at him.

"Sir?" Ando questioned.

Kael-Shei tore out of the tent, running for the camp entrance. He saw instantly where the source of distress was coming from; Damper was running for him, an evident limp in his step. Damper skidded to a halt in front of him, white-faced.

"What happened?" Kael-Shei breathed, eyes darting around in inspection, senses flaring from the energy he felt exuded from the man, who appeared to be having a hard time standing. He heard Sevets and Ando come running up behind him. Ando was past him in an instant, pulling Damper's arm around his shoulders to hold him up.

"Rigged explosion, out by the alarms," Damper said, brandishing his free arm, sounding slightly breathless. "Separatists; I was trailed by three droids, but they didn't make it."

"Offensive?" Sevets said.

Kael-Shei nodded. "We can only assume they're on their way."

Ando began to lead Damper away, who was adamantly protesting the help. Kael-Shei saw Anon running for them.

"Commander Sevets, organize the troops; have someone alert the sentry," Kael-Shei ordered. He was faintly aware of a 'yes, sir' as he went running for his Padawan.

"Master, what's going on?" Anon asked, alarm on her face.

"The Separatists are on their way," he stated. "I'd get ready for the worst, if I were you."

Anon's face visibly darkened, and Kael-Shei had the sudden and surprising urge to get her as far away from the camp as possible; he didn't like her reaction at all. He reached and squeezed her shoulder.

"I understand the scars they left on you," he said with a small, reassuring smile, "but don't maliciously inflict the same on them."

Anon nodded, and they both ran for the logistics tent. Sevets was bent over the holomap, head bobbing slightly, leading Kael-Shei to believe he was issuing orders from the confines of his helmet. There was a light click.

"They're on their way, General," Sevets spoke. Kael-Shei felt adrenaline flood his mouth.

"Reinforcements?" he asked.

Sevets scoffed. "No; Seps."

Kael-Shei breathed out and spoke. "I want most of the troops outside the gates, ready to defend. The rest stay inside in case-," he sighed. "-In case we need something to fall back on."

Sevets gave him a sharp nod and fell back into the world of his helmet. Ando whisked in the tent and Sevets looked to him. No sound came from their helmets, but from the energy that flared in the Force, Kael-Shei knew they were talking about Damper. Nach stepped up to him.

"Sentry says we've got enough troops coming at us to make trouble, but those won't be the issue; they've got three tanks and we've barely anything to rival that," Nach stated.

Kael-Shei quietly muttered a swear he had learned from the clone troops. There were two simultaneous clicks.

"That sounds like a job for _us_, sir," Ando said, stepping forward. Sevets straightened similarly.

"I suggest you stay here to lead the main force, General," Sevets said in agreement.

Kael-Shei hardly felt the need to argue with the seasoned soldiers; he knew full well they knew more about strategy than him. He nodded.

"What will you do?"

"Skirt the forces," Ando began.

"Get around behind them-," Sevets continued.

"-and mop them up," Ando finished, pulling a blaster from its holster and adjusting a setting. "Leave the tanks to us."

"You just worry about not letting them get into the compound," Sevets said, moving around and hauling the covers off supply bins. He tossed Ando a few detonators. "Cover us, and all that?"

"Of course," Kael-Shei answered.

It was surprising how fast the troopers could scramble to action. They were pouring from the compound before Kael-Shei had even left the tent. He looked over at Anon.

"I want you to stay back," he told her. "Your skills with healing will be needed when this is done, and you can't be exhausted for that."

To his relief, Anon just nodded compliantly. "I understand, Master."

He smiled lightly at her, then ran to join his troops. Someone caught his eye; a refugee woman running around with much more of a sense of purpose than the others around her. Her clothing was shredded, soaked with blood. He staggered in his curiosity, before he was caught up in the lines of the troops being ushered out onto the escarpment. He tried to keep her in his sight, but was quickly lost in the swarm of people. He set it aside, clearing his mind for the battle. He quickly made his way to the front lines, snapping on his lightsaber. The Separatists had made it to the edge of the escarpment and had begun to fire up at them.

"_Fire!"_ Kael-Shei yelled.

He leapt.

**********

"Keep up, Ando," Sevets waved a hand, indicating for him to stick closer. Ando jogged up to his side.

"This is essentially using the camp for bait, isn't it?" Ando mused. They hurried along, darting between the cover of rock formations, drawing a wide arc around the developing battle.

"Essentially," Sevets confirmed in a light voice. "Scared?"

"Not for me," Ando murmured.

"I _told_ you not to make connections there," Sevets said. He watched the Republic's troops line up at the edge of the escarpment, their best tool; the tanks would _have_ to go around the rock face, leading them straight to the ARCs.

"Not everyone is as heartless as you, Sev," Ando teased.

"Ha, ha," Sevets said in two distinct, sarcastic syllables. He watched a distant General Aa leap to the front of the troops, lightsaber held high. And so the battle started.

"Hurry," Sevets urged.

They quickened their pace, making their way closer and closer to the Separatist's troops.

"Wait here," Sevets said, throwing a hand up. Ando followed suit in pressing his back to the rock face beside him.

Patience was a virtue on a field of battle, and waiting for an opportune moment when people were dying was never an easy thing to do. Sevets tuned it out, but Ando's energy beside him was making him jittery; something was distracting him rather fully, almost completely shattering his focus. Sevets tilted his head just far enough for his rangefinder to track the tanks.

"_Almost..."_ he said, trying to calm his brother's nerves. "Just-"

He was suddenly cut off by a shriek of metal on rock right by his helmet, and suddenly Ando wasn't at his side. Sevets brought his head around and saw Ando springing back to his feet from a roll.

"_Move!"_ Ando yelled.

Sevets ducked and sprang forward, watching a sword swish past the top of his visor, and suddenly his rangefinder stopped transmitting. He turned around in time to see a man, one of the native species, mostly humanoid but slightly larger, quicker, and stronger than a human, yank his weapon from the rock where Ando's neck had moments before been. Three more natives, all in bulky armor, stalked toward them, carrying gruesome weapons.

"Take us to the camp," one ordered in a voice that was none too friendly.

"Are you refugees?" Sevets heard Ando question from somewhere off to his side.

Two of the men raised blasters.

"There wouldn't have to _be_ refugees if the idiot queen would just accept Separatist occupation," one explained vehemently.

Sevets knew this would not end peacefully.

"I'm afraid we can't do that, if you've chosen to ally yourselves with the Separatists," he said, muscles ready to pull his blaster at an instant's notice.

"Bad choice," the man responded.

Ando's blasters were out of their holsters and firing just a nanosecond before Sevets's had his own raised. One of the men squealed and dropped to the ground as he was caught full in the face; his blaster clattered to the dirt. The two men with swords charged for them.

"Go!" Sevets shouted. They turned and ran. Lousy gauntlet blades would do nothing against swords. Distance was their game. Sevets aimed behind him, but the bolts from his blaster just pinged off the armor of their pursuers.

"What is that _made_ of?" Sevets growled.

"Don't know," Ando panted beside him. They threw themselves behind a boulder. "But I'm getting jealous."

They fired around the rock.

"We're getting too far from the tanks…" Ando reminded him worriedly.

"I know, I know! Hold here!"

They put their backs to the rock and waited seconds as the _tmph tmph tmph _of feet drew closer. Ando waited until the last second, then ducked to avoid being decapitated by the sword that swung around the rock. His fist was wrapped around the wrist of its wielder in an instant, his foot going out to trip them with their own momentum. He flipped the man over to land hard on his back, grunting with the effort it took; the natives were a much larger people. Sevets tried to bring his blaster around to finish the man off when it was smashed from his hand from behind. He was suddenly caught across the side of the helmet by an incredible force. His neck snapped around to the side, and he fell hard to the ground, dazed.

_"Sev!"_

Ando finished off the man on the ground and moved for him. Sevets watched, horrified, as the remaining swordsman suddenly came up behind him and drove his weapon straight through the exposed area where Ando's shoulder met his chest. The end of the blade protruded out in front of him. Ando yelled in the shock of the pain, fingers instinctively going to stop the alien object from being pushed any further through him. Sevets felt his own assailant pile on top of him, and he suddenly couldn't breath as their hands tightened around his neck. He choked, clawing at the fingers.

"_Where-is-the senator?"_ the being demanded. Sevets stilled for a moment in dawning.

Suddenly, there was a flash, and the man was off him. Sevets gasped, forcing air back into his lungs, coughing, rolling his neck to the side to see Ando's raised blaster pointed towards him, smoking. The man behind him pushed the sword through further, and Ando stifled a scream between what Sevets assumed were clenched teeth as he was forced to his knees, blaster falling from uncooperative fingers.

Sevets rolled over and scrambled to his weapon. As he raised it, the expression on the remaining man's face was one of grim anger, as if he knew he wasn't going to make it and had accepted it. He didn't; Sevets aimed the blaster and fired. The man crumpled to the ground.

Ando rocked forward onto his hands. Sevets ran and dropped to his knee by his side, holding the weight of the back of the sword up.

_"Take it out_," Ando quipped.

"You'll bleed," Sevets stated.

"I can't walk like this..." Ando panted, words refusing to come out clearly.

Sevets nodded and stood.

"Turn external audio off on your helmet," Sevets warned, gently bracing his boot on Ando's backplate. He grabbed the back of the sword. "On three."

He yanked and the sword slid out with an awful sucking noise. Ando spasmed, and Sevets knew he was screaming. Sevets got down and pressed his hands to the wound. There was a click.

"That is such an _osik'la_ excuse!" Ando was yelling at him.

"Nothing's worse than bracing for it," Sevets said calmly, digging in Ando's pockets for gauze; he began to stuff it into Ando's bodysuit where it had split.

"I _was_ bracing for it, you ass, everyone knows you go on _one_ when you say that," Ando was being obstinate, babbling to try to keep the pain at bay; Sevets had seen this dozens of times with wounded soldiers. He shoved a sharp into his arm.

"You're just going to have to deal," Sevets said. He pulled Ando's helmet off his head to look at his pupils.

"Give that back," Ando grabbed for his helmet. "We're running out of time."

Sevets held his helmet back out to him. Ando snatched it back.

"You going to be okay?" he asked him.

Ando sighed and sealed his helmet back into place. "For all intents and purposes."

"He didn't hit anything vital, did he?"

"No. I've been shot there before; what luck."

They stood and started sprinting. The tanks had already made it around the escarpment and had started firing on the gates of the camp as they continued to advance. The sentry was getting hit hard.

"You hear what this is about?" Sevets chatted.

"The senator?" Ando asked.

"Yeah."

Sevets tried to blink a few commands to his rangefinder. Nothing happened.

"Rangefinder's acting faulty," he said, smacking the side of his helmet.

Ando gave a flat, single syllable laugh. "That would be because they chopped it off."

Sevets swore.

"Here," Ando jogged up beside him, holding out detonators. "You'll have to take these; we can't get too close, and I can't throw like this."

Sevets took them. The tanks were straight ahead.

"Ready?" he asked.

"I'll cover you," Ando responded.

Ando began to fire on stray droids with his good arm. Sevets counted on him to take out any in his way as he charged head on for the tanks. He wound up and_ threw_, coating them with the clinging detonators. He skid to a stop and reversed, running back towards Ando, covering his escape. He heard the explosion behind him and exhaled hard.

"Get back up to the camp," he said, looking behind him at the wreckage. The droids had begun a rapid retreat already. "You need that arm seen to."

**********

If there was one thing in the galaxy Vhe'dn found unbearable, it was hysterics; loud, shrill, chaotic, and unhelpful hysterics. She was at her most levelheaded at times like this, but the panicking refugees were causing more of a rift than the droids at this point. Explosions littered the top of the compound walls, echoing through the entire camp; it was deafening.

Vhe'dn felt a desperate need to help, but there was nothing she could do from here. Clones were shouting, trying to get the refugees to group in the back of the camp, but they were too alien; no one was listening.

There was an incredible explosion and suddenly the people_ did_ move; the droids were through. If it were possible for the screaming to grow any louder, it did. The clones started to shout and fire. Vhe'dn covered her head instinctually and dove for cover, staring around wildly for a weapon. There was a trooper lying on the ground, pinned horrifically to the dirt with some sort of a stake through his middle; probably one of the sentry. His blaster lay just out of reach. As a droid began to stalk for him, he began to struggle futilely with the shrapnel holding him down. In a split second, Vhe'dn scrambled across the ground to snatch up the blaster. The droid rounded on her, and she fired from where she lay on the ground. The droid stumbled back, then was shot to pieces.

The echoing ended very abruptly. Vhe'dn looked around to the troopers for explanation, pushing herself back up. Their hands were all up to the side of their helmets; a few punched into the air. A rush of emotion ran through her; it was done, but she couldn't feel the relief the refugees could; where was Ando? The sounds of blaster discharge grew more distant as the droids pulled out as suddenly as they had come, revealing new noise; people were crying around her. It made her restless; she wanted it to stop. She could feel her nerves rubbed raw.

Vhe'dn fell down at the trapped trooper's side, trying to suppress the look of horror making its way across her face.

"What happened?" she breathed, hands hovering over the trooper's wound.

"_Fell..."_ he answered weakly, choked.

Vhe'dn reached up and pulled the trooper's helmet off, gently lowering his head to the ground. His eyes were open, but his face was twisted in pain. Her heart fell when she saw the blood flowing down his cheek from his mouth.

"Help!" she yelled, knowing that most of the help was pouring out of the compound to the troopers who took place in the main battle. "Man down!"

"Please take it out..." he whispered.

"What's your name?" Vhe'dn asked, trying to keep him talking.

"Fours, ma'am," he choked. "We've met."

Vhe'dn froze in horror at herself for not realizing, and then for the overall _wrongness_ of the situation.

"_Man down!"_ she screamed.

"Please, take it out," Fours asked again.

Vhe'dn shook her head. "I can't; you'll bleed out."

"I know," Fours whispered. He closed his eyes. "What happened to you?"

Vhe'dn looked down at herself; she had forgotten about the explosion out at the buttes; the entire left side of her clothing was shred to pieces, and blood and plasma had been seeping from the cuts for some time now; she looked terrible. She reached over and squeezed Fours's fingers reassuringly, making him open his eyes again.

"Nothing," she said. She forced a smile. "You got to see the general fight, just like you wanted."

Fours let out breathy, pained little chuckles, but his eyes were fearful, and it destroyed her.

"_Man down!"_ she screamed, begging someone, _anyone_ more capable than her to come.

Fours was trying to pull the shrapnel from his stomach when she looked back; she slapped her hands down over his, slick with blood.

"_Don't_," she said.

"It's all right," Fours assured her.

It wasn't.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

The amount injured was staggering. After doffing the top half of his armor and applying haphazard bandages to his shoulder, Ando had started in with the dozens of hurt and dying soldiers. His ears tuned out the moaning and the yelling like a switch; he shut down, and just worked. He'd yet to see Vhe'dn; that panicked him, and he tried to suppress it. Anon stuck by his side, a partner he was glad for.

"You apply it like this," he said, moving his arm to show her how he was applying the bandage. "Got it?"

Anon nodded fervently.

"Good," Ando said; he pointed down the line of soldiers, all lying on their backs on the dirt. "Go do the same for them."

Anon jumped up.

"Wait," Ando said. He waved his hand for her to crouch back down; she had someone else's spattered blood going across her nose, and he hated to see it there. He wiped it off. "There."

Anon smiled sadly, then ran to the next trooper to do as she was instructed. Ando didn't know what number soldier this was; he had bandaged too many to count, and pronounced even more past the point of help. Someone came up beside him, hovering.

"Vhe'dn's okay," they said quietly, voice hinting they were just as dead-tired as he was. He looked up.

"_Damper_."

Damper looked down at him, leaning heavily on a makeshift crutch, knee bandaged.

"She's fine; I saw her," he repeated.

Ando breathed out loudly, heart still heavy, but slightly less compacted. "Thanks."

Damper nodded. "Anything I can do to help?"

"You can take over bandaging," Ando said, holding the roll out to him. "I can help the special cases if someone takes the easy stuff off my hands."

Damper took the gauze and rocked to the ground. Ando stood and jogged off to where the screams grew louder.

**********

Ando's hands were shaky by the time everyone had been taken care of as they could. It suddenly dawned on him how long it had been since he had eaten or drank anything, and a dull ache had begun to return to his left shoulder; it was a _nasty_ wound, and still hadn't been seen to properly for stitches; he had simply secured a bandage over it through where his jumpsuit had split on both sides.

He went tiredly looking for Vhe'dn as things began to settle; the first sunset was close to taking place. He had begun to drag his feet by the time he caught sight of her standing at the edge of the escarpment. As he approached, her outline was blurred out by the light. She held a rifle, resting against her leg. He stopped a few feet behind her.

"Vhe'dn," he said tentatively.

She didn't answer right away.

"They'll never even know his name," she murmured, just barely so he could hear. She set the blaster down on the ground.

Ando looked down at his hands, and was suddenly appalled by the blood dried all the way up his arms, almost to where his jumpsuit started. Vhe'dn turned around, and he looked back up at her.

"They'll never know to remember him," she said.

Ando squinted his eyes at her, then took a few steps forward. Her eyes were what he noticed first; they held a dead hatred. His sight traveled down.

"Vhe'dn, you're hurt," he murmured, adrenaline spiking through him suddenly as he closed the rest of the distance between them. He took her arm, holding it up away from her left side; she was completely shredded, smeared with blood. "What happened?"

"It only looks bad," she waved him off. She looked up at him, and pain flashed across her eyes. "He died."

Ando stared at her. "Who?"

"Fours!" Vhe'dn said, choked.

She pressed the heels of her hands to her temples, face screwing up.

"I couldn't do anything about it! I didn't know how!" she sounded like she was disgusted with herself. Ando glanced at her hands, then took them, staring at her palms; they were bloody. His eyes flashed to hers.

"This is his?" he asked 'dn nodded, holding her breath.

Ando reached behind him and pulled out a rag. He tried to wipe it off as best he could. Vhe'dn tugged, then tore her wrists away.

"Stop it!" she yelled at him. "Wiping his _blood_ away doesn't make it any _better!"_

"People _die_, Vhe'dn," Ando stated firmly, reaching out for her again. "Soldiers die."

Vhe'dn jerked away from him.

"You think I don't know that people _die?!"_ she shouted angrily at him. "You think I haven't _experienced it?_ It doesn't just all of a sudden become _okay_ to die for _nothing!"_

Ando didn't say anything, and just took her wrist again; she jerked away, but he just stepped closer and calmly snatched them both. She tugged angrily against his hold, but he didn't let go, and she finally just collapsed to the ground with him, crying quietly as he wiped the blood from her hands; he didn't know what else to do. Her crying died out quickly. She wiped her face with the back of her arms, the slightest trace of a scowl in her features, her nose and cheeks red.

"I didn't know how," she repeated.

Ando shook his head, throat surprisingly tight. "There's no reason to beat yourself up for that, then. He wasn't a computer."

Vhe'dn nodded; she looked exhausted. He took her hands and stood, pulling her up. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him.

"Your arm..." she breathed.

"This?" Ando looked down at his shoulder. "Oh, no, I'm fine. I'm on so many painkillers right now, I can't even feel the wind blow."

He forced a small smile from her.

"You need stitches on that," she said, composing herself.

Ando smirked at her. "You want to do it?"

Vhe'dn smacked him on his good arm. "Never again."

They made their way back to the camp. Vhe'dn sat on a small crate; Ando crouched beside her, cleaning her cuts and scrapes, and they_ were_ mostly scrapes, to his relief. She had a few nasty bruises, but nothing serious.

"I would suggest changing," Ando murmured as he worked. Vhe'dn laughed.

"Thanks for the suggestion," she said. "Patching me up seems to be a hobby of yours."

"A hobby of _ours_," Ando corrected, tapping the scars on his face.

He finished, and she hopped to the ground. She gave him a small, tired smile before she moved off for the tents. Ando watched her for a while, a strange sensation twisting in his stomach, before he turned and addressed the growing pain in his shoulder, groaning quietly as he tried rolling it slightly. He saw Sevets walking up to him. He gave him a tired wave of acknowledgment, then sat on the crate. Sevets joined him.

"How are you?" Sevets asked quietly, sounding just as tired as all the other troopers around the camp did.

"Fine," Ando grunted, peeling the bandage back from his shoulder.

Sevets rocked forward uncomfortably. "Spill."

Ando looked over at him. "What?"

"The girl; _Vhe'dn_; spill," Sevets repeated.

Ando tensed. "What do you mean?"

Sevets shifted to face him. "It's obvious what's happening, and you can't let it."

Ando scowled and stood. "_What's_ obvious? Nothing's obvious!"

"Ando, don't get all protective, you know that won't work with me," Sevets said calmly, standing similarly. "She's going to mess with your head and get in the way."

"You're crazy," Ando muttered.

"I'm not crazy, Ando. _Drop her_."

"There's nothing to drop!" Ando shouted, raising his voice slightly. They began to draw a few tired stares.

"Ando, don't cause a scene; I realize everyone's nerves are a little raw right now, but there's no reason to get worked up with me," Sevets said; his patronizing tone caused his anger to flare. He pointed an angry finger at him with his good arm.

"Stop talking to me like that," Ando quipped. "You presume too much."

"I'm not presuming _anything_," Sevets said, taking a step for him, growing visibly frustrated.

"_No_," Ando ordered. "_Stop_ butting in on what I do; I know _you_ can't understand people, but_ I_ do, so stop pretending that you know _anything_ about them."

He saw Sevets bite the side of his cheek; he nodded in a tense, temporary submission.

"You need stitches," Sevets murmured calmly.

"I know," Ando snapped.

"Let me do it," Sevets said, reaching out for his shoulder. Ando jerked away.

"I'll find someone else," Ando muttered, and bitterly stalked off.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

Vhe'dn didn't really know what was going to happen now that there was a giant _hole_ blown through the wall of the camp; it wasn't exactly a haven anymore, and all the Separatists had to do was regroup and throw another attack at them. They would be obliterated.

Everyone seemed a little stunned by the previous day's events; it was startlingly quiet. The day was far too sunny, too pleasant for what had happened hours ago. Vhe'dn hadn't seen Ando since yesterday, so she went looking for him. No one stopped her when she stepped through the new camp exit. She paced around the border, out back to where the water source was; a small, out of place pond of water, surprisingly clear. Ando was bent over the water, throwing it up onto his bare shoulder, back to her. As she paced closer, Vhe'dn's mouth opened a few centimeters; Ando had a horrific wound there, recently stitched. It was red and enflamed, and looked extremely painful. She said nothing, and just stopped a few feet from him. Ando didn't react to her right away, even though she knew he knew she was there. He finally twisted around slightly to look at her over his shoulder, scrubbing his hands in the water.

"See anything you like?" he asked with a roguish expression.

His boldness made her smile amusedly. She flashed him a dangerous grin.

"None that I'd like to _exploit_," she joked threateningly.

Ando laughed, turning back to the water. He grabbed a towel off a rock and dabbed the wound tenderly. He turned and propped his backside against the rock, dabbing the front similarly, the top half of his bodysuit sitting beside him. The wounds lined up exactly, front to back. Vhe'dn narrowed her eyes.

"What _happened?"_ she asked, hauling herself up to sit on top of the rock next to him. He tilted his head back slightly to look at her.

"Stabbed straight through," he answered calmly, putting the towel down. She handed him the bandages off the rock, and he started securing them over the frontal stitches. She hissed.

"Did it hurt?"

"_No_, it _tickled_," Ando murmured sarcastically. Vhe'dn laughed once. He handed the bandages up to her, and she started securing them over the wound on his back. He shuddered.

"So," he said, "how did _you_ get hurt?"

"I was with Damper when the first explosion happened," she said calmly, pressing tape down. She felt Ando tense.

"_What?"_

"I was _adamant_," Vhe'dn explained. "He didn't want me to come with, but I wouldn't let him tell me no."

Ando started to walk forward before she finished.

"Hey!" she grabbed him by his hair to stop him. He yelped and stumbled back when her grip didn't yield and he hadn't stopped walking.

"_Ow_, what was that for?" he asked, scrubbing his scalp.

"To stop you from beating someone who's already injured," Vhe'dn said dryly, crossing her arms. "It was _my_ fault, so if you beat someone up, it'll have to be me, and my family won't be happy about that."

She slid off the rock and onto the ground. She grabbed his arm and turned him around, reaching up to press the rest of the tape on his back down to his skin. He turned to face her as she finished. She held the top of his bodysuit out to him, raising her eyebrows. He took it, scowling at her slightly. She just smiled. He pulled it on, left arm stiff in its movements. She helped him pull his armor into place, and was surprised, but not as surprised as she thought she'd be, when he let her help without protesting.

"Are you doing all right?" he said softly, conversationally. Vhe'dn knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Fours?" she sighed quietly. "Yes."

Ando glanced over his shoulder at her. "I'm sorry."

"No reason for_ you_ to say that."

"It's a different kind of sorry, Vhe'dn," Ando explained. He paused. "Did you love him?"

Vhe'dn stilled for a moment, then continued with helping him secure his armor.

"Are you _allowed_ to love?" she murmured.

Ando was staring intently at what he was working on.

"I don't think they ever thought we'd want to; the Kaminoans, I mean. So they didn't say anything about it," a hint of subtle, unintended bitterness worked its way into Ando's voice. Vhe'dn glanced at his face, then reached for his pauldron, handing it out to him. He turned and took it.

"No," she answered his question. "Not that way. I loved him as much as I could love someone I was getting to know as a friend."

Ando nodded soberly, pulling his pauldron into place. She didn't know what his expression held.

"Let's go do something," she said. Ando looked at her earnestly.

"Like what?"

Vhe'dn shrugged. "Anything. _Something_. I hate this place; I just want to get away from it for a while."

Ando raised an eyebrow at her. "There's nowhere to go."

"Away from the camp, then, at least."

Ando looked around nervously.

"I need to be able to get back quickly if I'm needed."

"We don't need to go far," Vhe'dn agreed. She nodded her head toward the cliff's walls. "There."

Ando looked, then glanced back down at her.

"You_ sure_ you're not getting me into something I'll regret?" Ando asked tentatively.

She gave him a saucy smile. "Of course not."

She sauntered past him.

"Unless I was being sarcastic, but, that could never be me," she joked, waving a dismissive hand.

"You, sarcastic?" Ando played along, following her. He scoffed. "Never."

**********

Ando had been around near human women before, but they had always been unapproachables; Jedi generals, superiors, and the like.

Vhe'dn was equally unapproachable, but for entirely different reasons. She _was_ the reason. She made herself that way; and it was tantalizing.

It still made him angry to think about it, but maybe Sevets _did_ have a basis for his suspicion; Ando didn't quite know _what_ he was feeling, but as he followed Vhe'dn, who bounded eagerly out in front of him, always spinning and hopping around to make sure he was still following, he found her energy inspiring. She just chatted, and he was content to listen to her; soak in her confidence, and enjoy her infectious smile. That sharp, intimidating air she always had evaporated when she grinned. Ando tried, for at least a moment, to put aside all the stress on his mind; Vhe'dn appeared to be doing the same.

She led him around to the cliff face. She kept rubbing her hands over the rock and explaining all the different minerals to him; mostly the ones that sparkled; and punting loose rocks with her feet. Eventually they just came to sharing stories as they strolled along.

"How'd I meet Damper?" Ando repeated the question.

"Yes!" Vhe'dn said, nodding enthusiastically.

Ando began to laugh. "It was a fiasco. We were still very little; four, maybe."

"So, like eight?" Vhe'dn clarified.

"Yes," Ando confirmed. He stooped and snatched up a glittering rock, pink in hue and handed it to her; she pocketed it. "We were getting our vision checked, or were about to. ARCs didn't usually mix with the other clones, but we did for this. I saw Damper for the first time leaning up against the wall in line looking like he was about to vomit; I'd never seen one of us so pale."

"What was wrong?"

"Well, I went to ask him," Ando said. "I got him to fess up to the fact that his eyesight had deteriorated; I knew if he didn't pass the test, especially as a pilot, he'd be reconditioned, so I just... pulled him out of line."

"Reconditioned?"

"Offed."

"Oh."

"I took him to my training sergeant with Sevets's help," Ando chuckled. "I didn't really know what else to do, but I knew my sergeant didn't always follow the rules like he was suppose to, and he got in touch with some of his mates and... smuggled him in a special doctor two days later."

Ando started laughing at this point. "They fixed him right up and he passed the test the next day. I didn't leave him alone after that; he wasn't always so... mischievous. He got that from me."

Vhe'dn gaped at him. "You're kidding."

Ando laughed. "I'm not. He was actually rather _subdued_ to begin with, but I suppose after you spend so much time with clones who_ don't_ have tampering in their obedience DNA, you pick up on their quirks after a while."

Vhe'dn laughed, and he loved hearing the honest sound of it.

"Well what happened to you, then?" Vhe'dn laughed. "Why's he the crazy one, and you lost it? When did you get the stick up your-"

He interrupted her. "I'm not like that."

Vhe'dn smirked at him, then looked out in front of her. "I know."

"I don't get to act out when it's real life," Ando explained. "Not around the Jedi, not on command decks; not where I'm a lieutenant above all else."

Vhe'dn nodded in understanding, then suddenly took off running in front of him. She stopped at a crevasse in the rock face, wide enough to keep away claustrophobia.

"Come on," she waved a hand at him.

Ando followed her in. The split in the rock went all the way to the top, so there was enough shadowy light to still see comfortably. Vhe'dn smiled over her shoulder at him.

"What's back here?" he asked.

Vhe'dn shrugged. "Don't know yet. That's the point."

They made their way all the way back; there ended up being nothing.

Vhe'dn laughed. "Well, you can't always find something on every endeavor."

Ando didn't feel it was a waste of time, even though. He smiled; he was doing that a lot.

"I should be getting back to camp, probably. We still have a lot of things to sort out," Ando said reluctantly, turning around.

"Was I that unimpressive?" Vhe'dn joked as they made their way back toward the exit.

"Yes," Ando replied. "I was expecting riches."

They were almost out. Vhe'dn laughed, then bounced around ahead of him, blocking his escape.

"Was it at least _enriching?"_ Vhe'dn asked, leaning toward him.

"I've been all around the galaxy, Sweetheart; you'll have to do a lot better than that."

Vhe'dn kept getting closer, and he realized he was essentially cornered against the rock face. He squirmed. Vhe'dn gave him a funny look.

"You're nervous, why are you nervous?" she asked him.

"What?" Ando snapped, indignant. "I'm not nervous."

"Yes you are," Vhe'dn persisted. "You're calling me 'Sweetheart.' You only call me 'Sweetheart' like that when you're uncomfortable."

"I do not," Ando parried.

Vhe'dn gave him an _oh please_ sort of look. She didn't say anything for a moment, then turned to face him, taking a step closer, a completely different look on her face. Her proximity made his heart hammer.

She started talking slowly. "Remember way back when we first met, when I told you that you weren't my type?" Her eyes flashed up to his; she was still getting closer.

_"Yes_," Ando whispered. The single syllable was all his brain could come up with; he found himself breathless as her hand suddenly came up, gently grabbing the neck of his armor and pulling him toward her slightly.

Vhe'dn's face was centimeters from his when she spoke; he could feel her breath on his lips.

"I think I lied," she whispered, leaning in.

**********

Kael-Shei's nerves all felt on fire still from the previous day. It was as if every sense he had was doubly perceptive to what it normally was. He almost wished he could just _stop_ sensing things for a moment; but he couldn't. He was too immersed in his soldiers' minds. He could feel every twinge of anxiety, every sense of exhaustion, and the pain they felt over brothers they had lost, but refused to express in words; he could even differentiate feelings from clones he was specifically more familiar with. It was enough to nearly destroy him.

So instead of trying to suppress it, Kael-Shei just focused on it. He breathed in slowly, meditating. Every time he sorted out one trooper's emotional state, he would randomly reach out and snatch another, adding it to the mix, but keeping each trail of thought separate. It wasn't delving into minds; he was just reaching out passively to the light impressions they each released to the outside on their own accord, unexpressed in words.

He felt Sevets pad up behind him. He added him into his string of emotions; Sevets was troubled. Sevets was_ always_ troubled, but now more so than usual, and about something very specific. It was a slightly different kind of troubled, rather than the general weight of the galaxy that he usually had; he'd been hurt by something, or _someone_. Kael-Shei knew if he asked, though, that Sevets would just deny it. So he didn't say anything.

"General," Sevets greeted him.

Kael-Shei expanded his radius and snatched up another emotional trail. His eyes snapped open suddenly; he knew this one. Ando. And something was severely wrong. He looked up at Sevets; he could tell the commander wasn't happy with the expression on his face.

"What?"

"Something's wrong," Kael-Shei said. "Ando."

Sevets's face betrayed his sudden worry. Kael-Shei stood and ran for the camp exit; Sevets was right behind him. Kael-Shei followed his senses toward the cliff face. He could feel Ando was in some sort of heightened distress; his blood pressure was spiking unnaturally. He pointed ahead at a crack in the rock, snatching his lightsaber from his belt. He breathed twice, then jumped at its entrance, snapping his lightsaber on.

He was met with Ando's raised blaster pointed straight at his head. A wave of heat ran through him; Ando could have squeezed the trigger and killed him instantly, and he wouldn't have been able to have done a thing about it. Kael-Shei became suddenly very aware of how oblivious he was of how well-trained these soldiers were, and he had just _jumped_ one. He was lucky that Ando had the reflexes quick enough not to pull the trigger. Kael-Shei felt foolish; Ando was fine, arm pushing a short woman behind him protectively, her face covered by the shadows.

"General!" Ando seemed horrified at himself as he recognized him. He lowered the blaster instantly. "I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you."

Kael-Shei raised a hand in submission as he snapped his lightsaber off, hoping he'd never again have to be facing down a clone trooper; Ando looked_ scary_ on combat awareness. "I believe it's my place to apologize for startling you."

Ando took a step forward into the light. He didn't look comforted at all; he looked embarrassed, guilty. His face was on fire. Kael-Shei exhaled hard, trying to peer at the woman behind him.

"Still, I think this merits an explanation," Kael-Shei said gently, in no way accusatory.

Ando's lips parted just slightly. Kael-Shei saw him glance over at Sevets, seeming to be in some sort of desperate indecision. He sighed hard, then stepped to the side, indicating the woman. She stepped out of the shadows. Kael-Shei almost took a step backwards when he began to feel the energy rolling off her, a mix of overwhelming tenacity and sense of _presence_. He did a double take as he recognized her as the injured woman from the previous day.

"This is Vhe'dn Oyre," Ando stated. He was looking at Sevets when he said, "the Mandalorian woman who helped me survive the forest three months ago."

The woman; Vhe'dn; squeaked as he said this, but Kael-Shei was too preoccupied with the shock rolling off of Sevets. He decided to speak before he regained his voice.

"Am I missing something?" Kael-Shei queried.

Ando sighed, squeezing his eyes shut before opening them again.

"She was a huge help back on that moon; without her, I don't know if we could have taken care of that base in time to get communications back up," Ando explained. "I'd have died."

"You wouldn't have _crashed_ if she hadn't been there," Sevets said, voice dangerously vehement. "Ando, the Mandalorians were the _enemy_."

"Well, she changed her mind," Ando defended, bristling. "She picked a side, over the creds."

Sevets scoffed. "She probably _got_ the creds anyways!"

Kael-Shei interrupted the developing fight. "_Enough_."

Vhe'dn hadn't said anything, and she was impossible to read; she just looked... angry. Kael-Shei didn't know if angry was the right word. Dangerous, maybe; sharp.

"Regardless of that, what are you doing here?" Kael-Shei addressed her directly.

"Mercenary work," Sevets spat.

Vhe'dn pushed her way out in front of Ando before he could respond.

"Visiting," she stated darkly, looking at Sevets. She looked straight at Kael-Shei. "Visiting. Yes, I am a Mandalorian, and _no_ Mandalorian does not mean_ Separatist_ or soulless mercenary for hire. We can form attachments just like any being, even if it's said we can't."

Her stare was disarming.

"Just like _you_ do, even though you're told you _can't_," she said, speaking directly to him.

He had to hand it to her; she was perceptive, and she knew exactly what buttons to press. He didn't know if he respected her, or disliked her, so he just sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. She stepped a few steps toward him and he heard Sevets's hands fall onto his blaster; she didn't seem to care.

"I don't want Ando getting in trouble for any of this," she stated; it was an _order_. "He didn't know I was coming, and he tried to send me away, but as you'll come to find out, I don't leave easily. No, I have no agenda here besides visiting someone I consider to be a friend."

Sevets seethed; Kael-Shei could feel him pouring anger and a sense of betrayal in the Force.

"Why did you deceive us, Ando?" Kael-Shei asked him quietly.

Ando seemed overwhelmed by the whole situation.

"You think you'd have let me in if I asked nicely?" Vhe'dn said sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest. "I just showed up one day, he didn't have a choice. He knew as well as I did that it's impossible for us to be friends in a galaxy at war like this; it's just not _allowed_."

Kael-Shei was ambushed by his morals, the ones that he had had to set aside when this war started.

"But the fact of the matter is, emotions don't ever follow the rules, do they?" she was speaking very specifically at him again. Kael-Shei squirmed under her scrutiny, before he realized that her eyes, however sharp, were trying to tell him something.

She was in love.

He suddenly found her stare far easier to meet.

"Do you have a way off this planet?" he asked quietly.

Vhe'dn shook her head.

Kael-Shei sighed silently to himself.

"Do you trust her?" he looked at Ando, who nodded grimly at him.

"You can stay for the time being," Kael-Shei said finally.

The statement seemed to floor Sevets, but to his merit, he said nothing.

Kael-Shei took a few steps up to Vhe'dn; even though he was taller than her, he still felt as though he was the one being stared down at.

"The grey areas in the Force are often the most dangerous," he muttered to her so no one else could hear, "because you never know which way they are going to go. You just remember how much you care for him; that will keep you on the right path."

It was _almost_ a threat. Almost. And yet he just saw the slightest hint of an approving smile touch Vhe'dn's lips.

"As you wish, General," she said gently.

Kael-Shei nodded, then stepped away from her. Ando looked deflated, and for a moment, Kael-Shei pitied him; he shouldn't have had to feel that, shouldn't have had to feel ashamed for caring for someone the galaxy said he couldn't.

There were a lot of things that shouldn't have been in this war.

Vhe'dn walked straight between them, heading back towards the camp. Sevets began to move away; Ando raised a hand, a pleading look on his face.

"Sev-"

Sevets just pushed past him, exuding venom into the Force.

Kael-Shei's heart ached.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

Ando just kept swearing to himself in the confines of his mind. What the _hell_ just _almost_ happened back there? He didn't know what was making him angry; the fact that it almost happened, or the fact that it _didn't_, or perhaps even because he had let his guard down, or because he had been embarrassed when he was caught by his _general_. He groaned inwardly and pinched the bridge of his nose. Or maybe it was because of the guilt he felt over Sevets. His chest hurt.

They all sat or stood, respectively, in the logistics tent; General Aa, Anon, Sevets, and the sergeant, Nach. The tension was tangible, but they had work to do.

"...and so in the end, this was all about the senator; we had the wrong bargaining chip," Sevets summarized. "Somehow, the Seps still figured we had him."

"And what about reinforcements? How are we standing?" Aa asked grimly.

"We're down to almost fifty percent when it comes to soldiers fit to fight," Ando chimed in, arms crossed over his chest where he sat in a chair, legs splayed casually across the floor.

"The Republic's not going to spare any more for this one camp," Sevets continued, doing a good job of swallowing his personal business. "There's no one nearby, anyways."

Aa sighed, preoccupied; he seemed to be sorting the information through.

"So we have contact with them?" he asked finally.

"Easily, General," Nach said. "At least one thing is going for us."

"Well, keep relaying them the urgency of the situation," Aa stated, standing. "And get me that _blasted_ senator on a line."

Ando knew he would have found the general's outburst humorous had he not been so preoccupied with Sevets's state of mind. He felt all kinds of guilty for not coming clean about Vhe'dn from the start; he wondered what he had been thinking, dragging Damper into it and everything. Sevets no doubt felt completely alienated. Ando groaned inwardly when he thought of how he had accused_ Sevets_ of being the mistrustful one. He needed to fix this.

General Aa swept out of the tent, Sevets following after. Ando sprung up, racing after his brother.

"Sev!" Ando called.

Sevets rounded on him.

"I would _beat you_ right now if you were not _injured_," Sevets hissed, then quickly spun and kept moving away.

"Sev, come on-" he chased after him.

"_Stop_ calling me that," Sevets snapped, not turning to address him. "You're lucky I don't have you _court martialed_."

"Sev- Sevets!" Ando pleaded, coming to a halt. "Stop!"

Sevets just kept moving headlong for the tents.

Ando swore loudly, drawing the stares of the people around him.

**********

Sevets stomped towards his tent, fuming. He couldn't recall a time he had ever been so angry. He could still hardly believe Ando could be capable of such a blunder. When he thought of how he had let that_ twit_ of a woman fix that piece of tech, he clenched his teeth together so hard he was afraid his molars would shatter; he made a mental note to check it for tampering. She'd been _playing_ him all along.

He whisked into his tent. His blaster was out of its holster and aimed in an instant.

She was just_ sitting_ there.

"What are you doing in here?" Sevets demanded.

Vhe'dn just raised her hands by her head to show him that she was unarmed, or at least _appeared_ unarmed.

"I want to talk," she said. For once, she had put that air of showy confidence aside; she was very serious, and a very_ different_ looking person now. Sevets was almost angry at himself for not seeing through it in the first place; she practically screamed _outsider_.

Sevets scowled darkly.

"I could kill you," he said very clearly, "_right now._ You'd just be another merc who got out of control."

Vhe'dn stared coolly back, matching his gaze and intensity.

"You won't," she stated calmly, "because you know it's not me you're angry at; you're angry at Ando. You're hurt he didn't trust to come to you."

The girl didn't know how to bargain for her life very well. He clicked the blaster off safety.

"You're smart, Sevets," Vhe'dn said in a way that managed not to sound patronizing. "I know, and you know, that if you were to kill me, under any excuse, that Ando wouldn't forgive you."

Sevets's grip on the blaster tightened, but he already knew he was losing the fight.

"I know you don't trust my word, but I give you it that I'm not here to harm you, Ando, or the Republic in any way," Vhe'dn assured him. He hated how calm she looked, how _honest._

Sevets had to muscle his arm into lowering, rolling his shoulder and neck with a loud exhale as his blaster reluctantly lowered to his side, still in his grip; it went against everything he wanted, all his instincts except _one_; his _doubt_. He brought himself to full height in front of her.

"You're a horribly manipulative woman," he said, not at all sorry for saying it.

"It's not manipulation," Vhe'dn explained, hopping off the table and taking a few paces around. "It's the Oyre effect; runs in the family, Dad's side. No, Commander, I am _persuasive_."

Sevets just darkened, remaining wary.

"I know people," Vhe'dn continued; she almost seemed to be talking to herself now, as if she had retreated inwards a little. "I can tell what they're like, what they want. I can tell what you want, but won't reach for, and I'm just good at poking the exact spot to make you realize what you're missing about yourself."

She traced her finger across the table.

"I don't know how I do it," she murmured, distracted. "Second biggest gift I have, besides tech skills."

She looked at him suddenly, smiling softly.

"Like _you_, Commander; you're a controller. You like to be on top of things." She smiled brightly as a thought seemed to cross her mind. "You like to _know _things." She sobered. "You pile on responsibilities to the point that you can't handle them all, and are crushed by the weight of them. Everyone's pain is yours."

She leaned on the table with one arm, the other hand on her hip.

"You want to know what you want?"

Sevets just stared down at her, unconvinced and unmoved. Vhe'dn seemed to find it humorous.

"You want to relax. You don't want to be a commander."

That was _enough._

He took a few steps for her, cornering her.

"What do you _need_, ma'am?" he hissed quietly, threateningly.

Vhe'dn reached out, her fingertips landing on his chest armor. She pushed him away slightly, enough for her to duck under his arm and escape his cornering. He turned to face her again.

"I need to apologize," she said simply.

"I do not _need _nor _want_ your apology," Sevets said. "I _want_ you out of my camp."

Vhe'dn must not have heard him, because she continued on anyways.

"Even though I wouldn't change my decision to come here, I'm sorry we were put at odds. I'm sorry I had to deceive you."

"You think that means_ anything _to me?"

"I think it _will_," Vhe'dn said softly.

He said nothing for a moment.

"He regrets it, you know," Vhe'dn mumbled. He knew she was talking about Ando. "Even though he knows he can trust me."

"Ando's confused," Sevets stated.

"No," Vhe'dn said. "He's in indecision."

He hated how she seemed to have the ability to make him doubt himself. He didn't know what it was about her.

"I know you worry about him," Vhe'dn said softly. "You may not think it of me, but I can understand that need to protect; but I also know that piling everyone's burdens onto your shoulders will cripple you, and then when they really_ do_ need you, you won't be able to be there."

He straightened, bristling. "Honestly, I don't need your counseling; you need to leave."

He stepped to the side, placing his helmet down onto the table and holding his hand out for the door.

"Sevets-"

"Out."

"You should trust him-"

"_Now_."

"Would you _stop that?"_ she suddenly grew very visibly angry, her voice rising to a shout. "I would have thought you, _of all people_, would be able to put petty prejudices aside!"

The outburst almost startled him, given the cool surface she so often portrayed. She stomped up to him.

"I've given you no reason to think I'd be a threat!" she yelled. "I've been here days and done_ nothing_. Get over the fact where I come from, what I _am, look at me_ and judge my actions. You think just because you're a_ clone_ that I assume you have one set personality construct?"

Sevets was silent for a moment.

"Regardless of what you are," he finally said very carefully, reassessing his argument, "you're not supposed to be here. You're not a refugee nor a citizen on this planet, and you're certainly not a part of the army. No matter your agenda, friendly or no, this is a war zone."

"So break the rules, for once."

"I _live_ by protocol," Sevets affirmed.

Vhe'dn's eyebrows came down just slightly as if reading him.

"You want to hate me," she finally concluded, sounding just slightly hurt.

"I told you not to distract him," Sevets said, ignoring her statement.

"What is so bad with being his friend if he enjoys it?" she demanded. "His life can't be all about the army."

"His life_ is_ the army, just like the rest of us. He has a duty," Sevets said.

"You can't really believe that," Vhe'dn chided, looking borderline horrified. "You can't say this is all you want, to serve with no benefits and no freedom, knowing full well you'll die a violent death with no one to care."

"To serve the GAR is glory. If I may die, the rest of us go on. It is a privilege to serve in this army," Sevets insisted.

Vhe'dn just shook her head at him. "What if that's not what Ando feels?"

"Then it's just because of what you put in his head."

"I don't have him under some sort of mind influence," Vhe'dn mocked him, resting her weight on one leg. "I only made him realize he had a choice."

"It is the same thing."

"No."

Sevets waited, half hoping she would leave, and part of him... part of him hoping she would try to explain.

Vhe'dn visibly softened. "You should trust Ando's judgment, even if it doesn't follow military protocol; sometimes people just know."

Sevets again said nothing.

"You trust him with your life, don't you?" she asked.

Sevets bristled. "Don't do that."

"Don't do what?"

"Play on my guilt."

"I'm sorry. I want you to trust me," Vhe'dn admitted, unashamed.

Sevets shifted, uncomfortable, wondering with frustration where his anger had gone.

"It's not just because he has a duty," he said, feeling out of place. "It's because you don't want to be _just his friend_."

"Is there anything so wrong with that?"

"Ando gets injured enough out on the field. He doesn't need pain coming from another direction."

Curiously, the side of Vhe'dn's lips tugged upwards slightly, as if she was satisfied with him.

"Very perceptive," she commended, "but sometimes the joy you get from something is worth the pain. You wouldn't give up your brothers just to escape worrying about them, would you?"

Sevets didn't reply. Vhe'dn sighed, then pointed at his helmet.

"I can fix that for you," she stated.

Sevets glanced down at it, inspecting the stalk where his rangefinder used to be.

"No thanks," he murmured.

"Please?"

"I tolerate you because General Aa does," Sevets said.

Vhe'dn looked slightly frustrated, but understanding.

"Well," she said, heading for the exit finally, "I'll make you one anyways. You can come find me if you want it installed."

Sevets watched her walk past.

"My brothers would care," he murmured.

"What?"

"You said no one would care if I died; my brothers would."

Vhe'dn smiled softly, sadly, then, seemingly as an afterthought, said, "Not if they aren't around to miss you; if the army takes _them_ first."

She left. Sevets exhaled hard. He thought back to Ando's description three months ago of the Mandalorian woman who had helped him survive the forest. He had described her as willful, spirited, infinitely frustrating, and yet likable enough to probably be able to talk credits off a Hutt. He understood now. The girl was exhausting.

**********

Sevets paced casually around the camp, waiting to run into Ando. It didn't take long, as it appeared Ando was doing the same.

"Seve-"

Sevets cut him off.

"I've thought about it, and I'm willing to forgive you for being an idiot," Sevets started.

"I-"

"Don't ever withhold information from me, and if I ever find out you pulled Damper into something like this again, you'll have a hard time walking the next morning."

"Y-"

"For now, though, I'm sick of how tense this is, so let's just call a truce and let it pass, all right?" he finished.

Ando exhaled slowly, then broke into a nervous grin, scrubbing the back of his head.

"I'm really relieved you're not angry," he said quietly.

"Oh, I'm still angry," Sevets corrected him. "I just can't take it out on you until your shoulder heals."

Ando laughed; Sevets just gave him a lopsided, closed-lipped smile.

"You should go find Damper and let him know you no longer want to kill him; he can't take a joke right now, as it is," Ando said, smiling.

"Just don't pull something like this again, okay?" Sevets requested.

"Of course," Ando said. He paused. "She really does care, you know. She's not out to get us."

Sevets sighed. "I _don't_ know. I don't trust her; but I'm willing to give _you_ the benefit of the doubt."

Ando just nodded, looking relieved.

"So," Ando said, holding his hand out, elbow bent up, _"vode?"_

Sevets stuck his tongue out in mock distaste and shook his head.

"No," he said, grasping Ando's hand firmly. Sevets grinned. _"Brothers_."

Ando laughed.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

Ando felt his heart sink. Macrobinoculars up to his visor, once again stationed on his stomach atop the cliff walls, he flipped through communication stations.

"Okay, so we have a minor problem," he said.

"Define 'minor', Lieutenant," Aa responded.

Ando sighed. "Seps appear to be rallying their forces again."

"Remind me to buy you a dictionary," Sevets mocked.

"What do we do, sir?" Ando asked, lowering the binoculars for a moment, troubled.

He heard Aa sigh. "_We_ do nothing. I'll explain when you get back."

It took maybe fifteen standard minutes to get back to the logistics tent.

"They have the queen," Sevets stated bluntly when he took a seat.

_"What?"_

"Intelligence report. Sep forces moved in on Serce this morning and took the capital. Queen Pentel is under their control and jurisdiction, but, being the stubborn woman she is, she hasn't given up on us quite yet," Sevets outlined, skipping out on all the unimportant details.

"The Republic finally taking notice?" Ando questioned with a hint of sarcasm.

"Well, here's where it gets good," Aa sighed. "They took her here, to this moon."

"And?"

"And you're being reassigned," Aa concluded; he didn't look very happy. "It's now of our highest interest to infiltrate the Separatist base here and retrieve her before she signs off to Separatist occupation."

He said it as if quoting orders.

"You'll love this part, Ando," Sevets said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Senator Pentel's still MIA and the Seps can't get it into their heads that he never showed up here."

"So they're coming again," Ando pieced together.

"The Republic will finally intervene at this point, but they're still almost a day away," Nach explained.

"So we're just abandoning the camp?" Ando asked. He felt a pang.

"_We_ are," Aa said, looking disgruntled. "You, me, Anon, and Commander Sevets."

Ando glanced at Sevets.

"They'll be slaughtered," Sevets murmured.

Neither of them mentioned Damper.

Aa shook his head, thinking.

"They can't stay here," Anon chimed.

"Yes, but they can't hardly move the injured," Nach reminded them.

Sevets let out a loud noise of frustration, uncharacteristic of him.

"We don't have a choice," Aa said, sounding torn. "Those were our orders."

"They'll have to try to move anyways," Ando said.

No one said anything, so Ando stood.

"No time to waste," he murmured, pulling his helmet over his head. "I'm spreading the news."

It took far longer than Ando would have preferred to get everyone rallied, but soon clones and refugees alike were pouring out of the camp. Part of him, to his distress, was glad that he was heading headlong into danger; the detailed jobs were what he was trained for. But that implied leaving these refugees and the rest of the troops to an uncertain future, and that was where his guilt would play in.

Ando felt his panic begin to play up a bit when he couldn't find Vhe'dn; he hadn't seen her since the previous day when General Aa and Sevets had found them, and...

He caught sight of Damper and jogged up to him, removing his helmet.

"Damper-"

Damper just gave him a grim smile.

"Don't worry about me, buddy," Damper said. "They've got to catch me first."

"Be careful," Sevets warned, coming up behind him.

"Yeesh, don't get all teary on me," Damper joked, pulling his helmet over his head. "You'll embarrass me in front of the guys."

Ando whacked him across the earpiece. Damper grasped each of their hands once, then turned and gave them a thumbs up gesture as he jogged to meet the group of troopers exiting the compound.

Things were moving quickly now. Anon was suddenly by his side as they made their way to General Aa, who was handing off the Force-sensitive toddler brought in days before to a refugee.

"You ready, Commander?" Ando asked her.

Anon gave him a confident smile. "Only if you are, Lieutenant."

Ando felt a light smile touch his lips. Anon had gained _something _back, even if he didn't know what it was yet.

"I'm_ always_ ready, ma'am."

Aa turned to address them as they approached. Sevets picked his helmet off a speeder and placed it over his head; Ando noted with curiosity that his rangefinder seemed to have been replaced.

"We ready to move out?" Aa asked him.

Ando nodded. "Yes, sir."

Aa suddenly looked past him, over his shoulder. Ando turned around.

He didn't know if he was relieved or distraught to see Vhe'dn approaching them, fully suited up in very familiar Mandalorian armor, her helmet tucked under one arm. He glanced back at Aa, who nodded to him. Ando jogged up to meet her.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Coming with?" Vhe'dn said as if he were stupid to wonder. The bright light from the sun on her face made her eyes shine a liquid orange-bronze.

Ando raised his eyebrow. "We're not leaving with the rest."

"I know," Vhe'dn stated. "You're going to get the queen."

"How did you know that?"

Vhe'dn just raised her eyebrows.

"No," Ando stated bluntly. "You're not coming."

"Why not?"

"Too dangerous."

Vhe'dn gave him a sarcastic, unimpressed expression.

"If it's too dangerous for me, then it's too dangerous for you, which means it's _not_ too dangerous for either of us," Vhe'dn said. She waggled a finger up and down at him, indicating his armor. "Now; let me come before I remotely ruin all that pretty little tech inside that suit of yours, and don't doubt that I can't do it."

Ando couldn't help but be warmed by her familiar persistence.

"It's not my say," he told her.

Vhe'dn moved past him, up to General Aa.

"I know our introduction was impromptu and... interesting," Vhe'dn began, "but I could be of assistance to your cause in this case. I'm a professional hacker and saboteur."

Aa looked her over, an open expression on his face.

"Quaint. My better judgment says that I shouldn't let you come along," Aa admitted, "but my instinct wants to give you a chance."

"I know where my heart lies," Vhe'dn said simply.

Aa seemed to soften. He glanced over at Sevets.

"Commander?"

Ando held his breath, half hoping Sevets would protest and half hoping he would let her come along; he knew it was selfish.

Sevets paused. Finally, he said, "Let her come."

Ando felt the air rush out of his lungs, heart hammering. He slipped his helmet on over his head, afraid his face was giving too much away.

Vhe'dn grinned and placed her helmet over her head.

"You know the intel?" Aa asked her.

Vhe'dn nodded, and Aa returned it. Nothing more needed to be said. Sevets swung his leg over one of the three speeders. Aa and Anon moved for the one adjacent. Ando moved to the last; he felt Vhe'dn slide into place behind him.

"Hang on," he told her.

"Just don't fly like Damper," Vhe'dn instructed, voice giving nothing away.

Ando felt like he had something to say to her, but he didn't know what; maybe it was _everything_. He stayed silent.

About two standard hours of flying and they had left the dust bowl behind. Trees and vegetation had begun to fill in, to the point where they could no longer tear at high speeds for fear of hitting something. Ando patched into Vhe'dn's helmet feed and was suddenly bombarded by music, a loud, pumping, lyrical song with lots of instruments, the kind he knew she liked. He yelled her name. There was a click and the music was cut off.

"Yeah?" she responded.

"When we get there... just stay behind us, okay?" he knew he was kicking himself.

"I'll go where I'm needed, Ando," Vhe'dn refuted.

Sevets suddenly slowed in front of them until his speeder came to full rest. They followed suit. He swung his leg over the side.

"We just made a huge mistake," Sevets said, and held out a holodisk. "Scanner picked this up; Sep channel."

They crowded around to listen. Ando felt a familiar knot form in his stomach.

**********

The summation of the report was that they were _screwed;_ surrounded on all sides of the forest by Separatists who _definitely_ knew they were coming. Vhe'dn's grip on her helmet tightened.

"What's the plan, sir?" Ando murmured, slipping his helmet off and scrubbing his hair; Vhe'dn hated his inevitable tone.

No one said anything.

"Surrender," Vhe'dn finally stated.

"What?" Sevets snapped.

"You heard the scanners; we'll be vastly outnumbered, and they _will_ take us," Vhe'dn said. She paused. "Our only chance is to operate on the assumption that they'll take us hostage; probably even take us straight to the queen. Then we can try to escape from there."

"That's very risky," Kael-Shei said.

Ando flipped his blasters off of safety.

"I realize that," Vhe'dn said, glancing at Ando at the click of his blasters. "But it's either that or assured death now. I say we give it a chance."

"They'll have us under very tight security," Kael-Shei inserted.

Vhe'dn's eyes flicked toward the ground. Something flashed in her mind. She glanced back up to Anon with very serious eyes. "Anon, take off your robes."

Anon seemed taken aback. "E-Excuse me?"

"Take off your robes," Vhe'dn repeated, and she began to strip off armor at a quick pace. "Here's how it is; they'll keep the Jedi under tighter security, and the Jedi are the best chance we have of springing prison. So what if we switched places? They wouldn't be able to tell. We switch identities, and they'll put me in tighter security, not you, giving you the best chance to get us out of there. Then you ca-"

Ando's hand suddenly clamped firmly down on her arm, holding it hostage and halting her movements. She looked up at him. He had firm eyes.

"That's far too dangerous," he stated. "What if you get caught in the act? What if you sell it too much, and they end up hurting you?"

Vhe'dn tried to pull her arm away, but Ando held fast, grip tightening; she nearly winced.

"Ando, listen to reason," she said, keeping a constant pressure to try to pull her arm away. "This is the best chance we've got."

"I hate to admit it," Sevets said reluctantly, "but I agree with her."

Ando's eyes flashed to him in anger, but the anger was compelled by something else, and everyone knew it; fear.

"Ando…" Vhe'dn said softly, laying her free hand over his on her arm. "Please. We don't have time. If I get killed over it, then it'll probably be too late for them anyways. It isn't about me."

The look in Ando's eyes said _yes, it is_, but he couldn't say that out loud. Visibly torn, Ando released his grip as if it took every fiber of energy in him to do so. He stepped back looking utterly defeated. Vhe'dn's heart ached for a moment, but she forced it to stop.

"Well, Anon?" she said, turning back to her, her eyes gaining their former steel. "It's up to you."

"We have to hurry," Anon said, confirming the plan was in action. Ando looked at the ground.

The girls pulled off their robes and armor, respectively, and swapped. They moved to trade weapons, both seeming very reluctant to part with their rifle or lightsaber.

"Don't leave my armor behind when they take it, okay?" Vhe'dn said to Anon, now fully dressed in her beloved Mandalorian armor. Anon nodded, then slipped the helmet over her head; it was odd seeing _herself _standing in front of her. Anon moved to braid Vhe'dn's short hair; she relented to her ministrations.

"Okay. No giving this away now," Vhe'dn addressed them all as Anon braided. "We really need to sell this."

Her eyes lingered specifically on Ando, who's eyes seemed to be trying all at the same time to convey something to her and make sure that he _didn't_ convey anything at all. He slipped his helmet into place.

Kael-Shei suddenly jumped, alert. "They're here."

The group fell back to back, and Vhe'dn slowly felt for Anon's lightsaber on her belt, feeling utterly naked in the robes compared to her armor. She steeled herself. She could hear them now. One last glance at Ando. He was looking back, and to anyone else the expressionless t-visor of his helmet would have looked threatening. To her, though... it was safety.

_Don't worry Ando_, she thought to herself, looking away. _This will work._


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

Sevets always hated it when they took his armor. He hadn't had to wait in his cell long before he had been introduced to the people in charge, both very physically fit women, one a young Cathar and the other some near-human combination he couldn't discern, neither of who had given names. They both had lightsabers. Just more acolytes.

Sevets hated it even more when they wanted to _know_ something. A few hits with a shock stick had made his knees buckle to the floor, useless. He had passed General Aa in the halls as he was dragged, half stumbling to his destination, the droids' hands biting into his arms.

"Don't worry about them," General Aa had yelled to him, "they're just more Force-sensitive _crazies!"_

General Aa was always a bit eccentric, a trait Sevets found he didn't mind. Then he was gone. Sevets was pulled into a room and thrown roughly into a chair and restrained. He steadied his breathing, knowing full well what was coming. The near-human woman stopped in front of him.

"Hello, clone," she began.

Sevets immediately began to think of other things, drowning out her chilling voice with his thoughts; things to do with food, listing plant species native to Alderaan... the woman kept talking, but he hardly heard what she said.

She suddenly stuck her face very close to his, and he felt his illusion break slightly.

"Are you ignoring me?" she asked quietly, threateningly.

Sevets didn't open his eyes. "A little."

She sighed theatrically.

"Well I suppose we'll just have to make it so you _can't_ ignore me."

Sevets opened his eyes, watching as two droids approached him. He stayed calm as they took hold of his left arm. The woman had continued on.

"You see, I have other business to take care of and don't honestly need your sense of _pride."_

The droids pulled his arm against the restraint. Sevets shifted and tensed violently, his breath hitching in his throat and his eyes widening in pain as he felt his left arm give with a sickening snap. He felt his mouth fill with bile. It was broken, _oh, it was broken_. Sevets panted in pained little gasps. The droids retreated.

"So," the woman spun to face him, pacing forward and placing her hands on either of his arms, leaning down onto them. Sevets bit back a yell as her weight settled onto his now broken arm. "Where is Senator Pentel?"

Sevets couldn't help but let out a bitter, breathy little laugh.

"We don't _have_ the kriffing senator," he muttered between clenched teeth.

She tightened her grip on his arm. Sevets squirmed, still trying not to give her the satisfaction of hearing the evidence of his discomfort. He broke into a cold sweat, leg beginning to bounce just slightly, trying to divert his center of concentration.

"You want an _estimation?"_ he ground out, voice growing louder. "I would figure he's somewhere in random _hyperspace right now!"_

The woman balled up her fist and brought it hard down onto his arm before spinning away from him. Sevets bit back a swear, arcing against the restraints.

"You ARCs are always so mouthy; but you never say the right thing," she cooed.

"You've never met one," Sevets panted.

"Oh? How do you know?"

"You wouldn't have survived the encounter."

She spun back around, a knife in her hand. She played it across her finger.

"You clones are so _useful_," she pouted. "So much information in your heads and yet with such little military value; no one to miss you."

She pressed the knife to his jawline.

Sevets had played this game before.

"After all," he agreed calmly, the mockery just barely showing through in his inflections, "they could always just make more."

Something in the woman's eyes flared and she drew away.

"You should learn to keep your mouth shut," she threatened.

Sevets grinned, but it was full of malice.

"Okay," Sevets sighed, "but when you ask for information and I don't give you any, remember that it was _at_ your request."

She went to swing at him, and he braced, when suddenly there was the sound of spitting energy. He glanced around her at the door, seeing twin green blades slicing a clean hole through it. A violet blade joined the mix, snapping to life in his captor's hands.

"Who let the Jedi free?" she demanded, the fear she was trying to hide evident in her voice.

"You're new here, aren't you?" Sevets murmured.

The metal door fell to the floor with a hollow _thunk_. General Aa stepped onto it, Anon on his heels.

"Good to see you, sir," Sevets greeted him.

"Likewise," Aa returned.

The woman brought her wrist to her mouth, about to comm someone. Aa leapt to stop her, and she was forced to bring her lightsaber around two-handed to block him. Despite how lithe he looked, the general had some mean strength in him. Anon sprung past him to make quick work of the droids.

"Surrender," Aa commanded as he traded blows with the woman.

She laughed.

"In my own facility? I'm afraid I have you quite outnumbered, _General_."

"Not in this wing, you don't," Aa pointed out calmly, "and that's all that matters right now."

There was a flash, and suddenly Sevets's restraints were cut; he hadn't even felt the heat from Anon's blade. She handed him a blaster from one of the droids and he trained it on the woman. Aa put up a hand to stop him.

"Do not be so arrogant," Aa told her, blade hissing against hers. "I can tell you've had little by way of training."

"I have a gift," she ground out, shaking with the energy it took to hold his blade back.

"A gift I share," Aa reminded her, "and have been refining for years. You can surrender, or I can kill you; us, or _them._"

Sevets wasn't sure if he was impressed or disturbed by the old quote coming from the Jedi's mouth. While Sevets lived by it, he knew the Jedi weren't supposed to.

The woman was either stupid or didn't care anymore, because she just drew her blade back for another attack. Anon was there in an instant to block her. Sevets fired.

And just like that, it was over; death wasn't always an excellently choreographed dance.

"Not exactly the most impressive display of what the Separatists have to offer," Sevets commented as he walked over to inspect the corpse.

"Just another pawn they could use and throw away," Aa said, choosedly devoid of emotion.

"What next, Master?" Anon asked.

Sevets noted Vhe'dn's armor strapped to her back.

"Nice job with getting us out, Ilia," he commended.

Anon gave him a grateful smile, but it dimmed.

"I'm sorry I wasn't quicker..." she said, staring at his arm.

Sevets tried to ignore the pain; it was a dull discomfort if he didn't move it.

"It's fine," he murmured; it wasn't. "I've had worse. We don't have time to worry about it right now."

"I couldn't get your armor," she said.

Sevets nodded.

"Just cover my back extra well, then."

Aa dragged his arm across his forehead, smearing blood off it; he appeared to have taken a blow to the hairline in a previous scuffle.

"Let's move out," Aa said, moving for the door. "We need to find Lieutenant Ando and the Mandalorian woman."

"Here," Anon placed something into his hand. "She gave this to me."

Aa looked it over. "What is it?"

"She said it would kill the camera feeds."

Sevets wondered where she would have gotten tech like that; he had a sneaking suspicion she'd made it herself.

Aa nodded, then activated it.

"Let's go."

**********

Ando never did know quite how to keep his mouth shut. Countless minutes of being beaten, and he just _couldn't keep his mouth shut_. At least he held onto the important things; the quips, however, always escaped.

_"Where - is - he?"_ the Cathar woman asked again.

Ando struggled to put a satisfied smile on his face. "My designation is A-14 and that's all I've permission to say."

The Cathar's pupils dialated to miniscule slits in her anger. She drew away from him, face contorting as she tried to control it. She didn't, and smacked him across the face again. Ando's head snapped to the side, and he kept it there, letting go of the breath he was holding with a sharp exhale. He felt his face burn where her nails had caught him.

Ando watched her begin to circle around him, her feet pacing past his sight, fixed on the floor to the right. He watched his blood hit the ground beneath him. He spit and watched the pool grow. The Kath hound in the corner whined.

"You don't want any _more_ scars on that face of yours," the Cathar pouted.

She paused for a moment, then continued pacing.

"A-14," she began, her voice a purr. Ando froze at the chilling lilt. He felt her hand slide slowly across his back. He squeezed his eyes shut.

"None of that until at least the second date," he said, mouth working faster than his brain.

She ignored him.

"I can sense your every emotional reaction; they attempted to train that out of you clones, emotion. They were doomed to fail, though. Every one of you is so much like a child if one can get past the hardened exterior." He heard her continue to circle his chair. "Why do you remain loyal to such a stagnant empire?"

Her voice grew more powerful. "What do you gain from it?" It dropped back down to a purr again. "What do _you_ gain from it?"

Ando opened his eyes and focused, suddenly, and with such a forward intensity that he stared past the cold tiles on the floor, willing his sight to transfer to his sharpened hearing. He heard the Cathar's step slow, then pick up again. She was playing in his mind, he could tell.

"You were bred to fight, to die, for a Republic you've never even seen or experienced the freedoms of." She sneered the word _Republic_. "So why do you do it?"

Ando felt the need to speak; again.

"I've heard the sob stories before, Sweetheart," he spat. "I don't need your patronizing."

He seemed to excite her, for her pacing stopped suddenly and her voice became eager as she moved in front of him.

"And what is that?" she asked.

Ando raised his head, a smirk on his face. "My designation is A-14, and that's all I've-"

She snarled and leapt at him, pushing her thumbs into the wound on his shoulder, tearing it open again. Ando yelled and fought against the restraints. The pain was excruciating. He stopped yelling when he began to fear he'd be sick. She stepped away from him suddenly. He broke into a sweat, panting.

"_Fine_," she said, then jerked a finger at the droids. They scrambled to press orders onto a control console. "Different angle."

The door to the room _whooshed_ open. Ando felt his heart hit his stomach when he saw Vhe'dn, cuffed and stripped of Anon's outer robes pace uncertainly in. She immediately began to take in the room, trying her best not to look at him. He silently commended her efforts, shoulder throbbing intensely. Without turning, the Cathar twitched her finger and Vhe'dn came careening toward her as if pulled by an invisible wire. When Vhe'dn reached her, the Cathar threw out her arm, catching her straight in the face with her metal gauntlet, sending Vhe'dn hard to the floor on her back. Ando flinched. Vhe'dn let out a stream of expletives from where she lay on the floor, clutching her nose.

She wrapped it up with, "_Idiot_, what was that for?"

"Mm, they don't make Jedi like they used to, do they?" the Cathar remarked.

Vhe'dn was dragged up by a pair of droids, blood streaming down over her mouth from her nose. When they shackled her wrist to the table of _supplies_ and released her, she immediately threw herself on top of it, flailing for the tools. The droids protested. Realizing she couldn't reach them, Vhe'dn hit the floor and began to rock the heavy table violently until it tipped over with a deafening _bang_, the supplies skittering all across the floor and taking her to the ground with it. Ando watched the whole episode go down with a horrified expression on his face, while the Cathar just watched, amused, as Vhe'dn kicked and protested loudly as the droids tried to restrain her. The table was righted and Vhe'dn stood next to it, panting, wrist still secured.

"Are we done with our tantrum?" the Cathar cooed.

Vhe'dn just scowled, wiping her arm across her mouth and nose to clear some of the blood there; it had begun to stain her shirt, some even making it onto her shorts from her struggle.

"All right, then." The Cathar smiled, then stooped to pick up a nasty looking device from the floor. "Here's how this is going to work; every time you _don't_ tell me where Senator Pentel is, your commander here will lose a finger, okay?"

She snapped the tool open and closed, and the look that glossed over Vhe'dn's eyes made Ando want to leap up and slowly choke the life out of the Cathar.

"_Don't you dare_," he whispered.

"It will be your fault, clone, unless the commander would like to volunteer the location?"

"I'd love to, except we have no idea where he is!" Vhe'dn sneered.

Ando felt his pulse speed up, suddenly worrying about how poorly Vhe'dn was selling her 'Padawan' act in her anger. The Cathar, however, just seemed pleased to be getting to her. She raised her hand, and suddenly Vhe'dn's other wrist was forced to the table, a similar shackle coming down over it. She paced over to her, avoiding Vhe'dn's kicking and bracing the tool very near her hands.

"All right," the Cathar suddenly darkened. "Where is he?"

Ando didn't respond. She sighed.

"I can _sense_ how fond you are of her, don't play the apathy game."

Ando shook his head. "You're insane."

Was she? It made his stomach squirm to say it. The Cathar slipped the device over the pointer finger of Vhe'dn's left hand.

"Maybe just enough," she conceded. "Last chance."

Ando felt his heart begin to hammer as he realized he couldn't resist nor give into her questions if he wanted, because he truly had no information to give on the matter.

"We don't _know_," he stated.

The Cathar shrugged and began to push.

"_D-!"_ Ando bit back a yell as suddenly Vhe'dn jumped, her face losing three shades of tan. He felt himself go taught against the restraints.

"You..."

"You cut off my finger," Vhe'dn said, eerily calm.

"Indeed."

"I can't feel it," Vhe'dn breathed; Ando knew immediately she was in shock.

"Consider yourself lucky," the Cathar cooed.

Ando suddenly realized how the restraints were cutting into his wrists, his shoulder burning as he couldn't bring himself to relax. He felt violent, ready to kill as soon as he had the chance, and he knew it was _personal;_ he didn't care.

The device was slipped over Vhe'dn's next finger.

"Where is Pentel?"

"In your base," Vhe'dn mocked, breathless.

"The Senator!"

"We don't _have him_," Ando yelled; _Force_, he was sick of head cases.

She snapped again. This time Vhe'dn screamed, the noise being ground to an angry halt as soon as it had begun. Ando felt sick. _This wasn't suppose to happen..._

"I can keep this up until she _has_ no fingers!" the Cathar reminded him. She snatched up the fingers and threw them to the Kath hound in the corner.

"_Try it_," Vhe'dn ground out between clenched teeth, looking threatening and feral despite the tears in her eyes. "We'll see how_ you_ look after it's done."

The Cathar threw the tool down onto the table and paced away, her back to Vhe'dn. Ando watched Vhe'dn let her face crumble against the pain as she allowed herself a few silent sobs, the tears leaving little streaks on her cheeks where they cleaned the blood from her nose. She then immediately bit her lip, composing herself; he knew the image would be ingrained in his mind indefinitely. He could feel it working through his adrenal glands, leaving him heady in his immobile state.

"Don't test my patience," the Cathar murmured, then threw her arm around. A burst of crackling blue energy escaped her hands and crashed against the floor at Vhe'dn's feet with a _bang_. Ando felt his hair stand on end, the energy in the air tangible.

"_Don't_ do it; she's Zabrak, you could _kill_ her," Ando explained, trying to stay calm.

"Two hearts, yes?" she toyed with him, then hit Vhe'dn straight on with another short burst.

Vhe'dn didn't scream, only letting out a rush of startled breath when it ended as soon as it had started, legs buckling slightly. Ando ground his teeth together.

"Where is he?"

She hit her with the lightening again. Ando squeezed his eyes shut.

"Where?"

Again.

_"Where?"_

Vhe'dn was screaming now, but he tuned it out, his guilt sickening. The lightening stopped. Suddenly, the only noise escaping Vhe'dn's mouth were small, pained, startled little gasps. Ando opened his eyes. Her knees suddenly gave out and she sat hanging by her arms from the table. Ando panicked.

"I'm not giving you anything if she dies!" he said in a rush. "_Get her help_. You need a defibrillator, you knocked her hearts out of sync."

"_Orders?_ Really, I d-"

The Cathar stopped as she was interrupted by the sound of a lightsaber being forced through metal. She spun, and Ando saw a bright green blade shoved through the door.

_Thank you, thank you, thank you..._

A circle was quickly cut through it, and suddenly the door was flying across the room. The Cathar leapt out of the way, and Ando felt the air move as it rushed past him. General Aa was through the door first, charging to engage the Cathar, Sevets soon after, pegging off the droids with a few well placed shots. Anon was there to cut both of their restraints before she leapt to join her master. Vhe'dn slumped to the ground, clutching her chest. Ando was there in an instant, dragging her out of the way of the duel. He propped her sitting up against the wall; her eyes were screwed shut.

"Can you hear me?" he asked her.

"_Yes_," she snapped. "Told you the plan would work."

"You're okay, you're okay..." he chanted, more to himself than to her as he found her pulse.

"I know!" she quipped angrily, squirming against the pain. Her pulse was sporadic and strong; Ando figured it would have felt like knives continually jabbed into her chest. He was barely aware of the sound of lightsabers going on behind him.

"Just stay calm," he murmured, looking around the room for _something_ to work with.

"I _am_ calm!" Vhe'dn yelled angrily at him. Ando snapped his mouth shut, deciding it was better to just stay silent.

Sevets was suddenly at his side, forcing a blaster into his hands.

"What's wrong?" Sevets asked, aiming his own blaster at the duel, but unable to take any shots.

"She's going into cardiac arrest," Ando explained quickly. "I don't have anything to stop it."

"CPR?"

"She's still_ breathing_, you idiot!"

"Well, figure something out fast!" Sevets instructed.

"Vhe'dn," Ando said firmly, making sure she was listening, "just try to steady your breathing; there_ are_ ways to will it to go back to normal, you're not critical _yet_."

Vhe'dn scoffed breathily. "Kind of hard when your organs are fighting for domination!"

"She's dead," Sevets said suddenly; he meant the Cathar. He beckoned.

Anon appeared by his side.

"What's going on?" Anon asked. She gasped when she saw Vhe'dn's fingers, how stained she was with blood from both that injury and her nose.

"Cardiac arrest," Ando said again, feeling himself going into that familiar aloof state he did when he came across a life or death situation he wasn't sure he could deal with; he was almost angry at himself for the disconnect. "Can you help her?"

Anon nodded.

"Vhe'dn?" she said softly. "I can help you get your hearts back in sync, but you need to help me. I need you to allow me into your mind."

Vhe'dn unscrewed her eyes, looking up.

"You shouldn't do that," she said. She was staring at General Aa.

"What?"

She jerked her head to where the Cathar now lay, her head separated from her body.

"Lightsabers," Vhe'dn breathed. "Traps the air in their head. Slow death; probably can still see us right now. Don't do it."

"Concentrate, Vhe," Ando instructed.

"They could find out we're free in this station at any second," Sevets reminded them all. "We still have a job to do."

Vhe'dn had calmed down considerably by now.

"Go get the queen," she murmured, sounding exhausted. She pushed him away from her, delirious enough to use her left hand.

"Vhe'dn..." Ando pleaded, taking her hand to stop her.

"I'll stay here with her," Anon said, eyes strong; he didn't know why he'd ever thought she was timid. "She's not critical yet. You guys can go. I can help her."

"I-"

"That's an order, Lieutenant," she said.

It was out of his control. Sevets stood and began to collect supplies. Aa drew Anon aside to give her instructions. Ando worried over how relaxed Vhe'dn looked, her eyes still closed.

"Hey..." he said gently.

"I'll be fine," Vhe'dn whispered. "There are computers in here; when Anon patches me up, I can probably monitor you guys and open doors or something."

He felt himself melt; it was the only descriptor that seems appropriate.

"We'll be back soon," he said softly. He paused as a thought crossed his mind. "Would you be angry if I kissed you?"

Vhe'dn's eyes opened. "What?"

He didn't wait for an answer; he just leaned forward and, ignoring the blood there, gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek, as he'd seen others do, then swiftly tore away, standing and joining Sevets and General Aa.

"We ready?" Aa asked them.

Ando nodded.

"Yes, sir," Sevets said.

Ando looked over to Vhe'dn one last time. Anon was crouched in front of her, talking softly. Vhe'dn smiled weakly at her, seemingly over something she had said.

"Let's go, then," he said.

They entered into the hallways of the compound; into danger.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

_Armor_. Armor would have been useful right now, if not just as a confidence booster. As it was, Sevets found himself moving through the halls of the Separatist installation in nothing but simple prison shorts and shirt and a blaster. He hugged his broken arm close to his side.

Ando was worse off; the blood from his shoulder wound, now opened again, had poured all down his chest and stomach; he seemed to be doing a good job of ignoring it, though. Sevets could tell his mind was preoccupied. This job was just a few mistakes short of _botched_, and Sevets wasn't about to let those odds gain any more of a foothold.

They kept a quick pace through the halls, General Aa leading, alert for danger.

"Sevets," Ando said suddenly, "your _arm_."

Sevets glanced over at him.

"Yeah, I'd be scared now, Ando," he said, trying to relieve some of the stress on his brother's mind. "Now that we're on even terms, I no longer have to wait to beat you up."

It merited a small laugh from Ando, as much as he could in his worrisome state; he was a wreck about the girl.

Sevets didn't know what to think about it; it was obvious Ando was smitten, and though Sevets had no qualms about_ preventing_ such attachments, he didn't have the heart to end them; and it was obvious he was too late already. Now he was just worried about whether Vhe'dn would make it or not, if not just for Ando's sake. He could pity her her fingers, though he'd seen much worse on a regular basis already during the war.

Regardless, she was willing to face dismemberment for Ando; maybe she merited a reevaluation.

Sevets was acutely aware of Ando's fidgeting as they ran, though someone who didn't know him as well would never have picked up on it.

"_Relax_, Ando," Sevets murmured. "She's going to be okay."

Ando glanced over at him, his expression a study of suppressed guilt and fear; Sevets hated seeing him like that.

"How do you know?"

"Hey!" A droid's startled response before it was swiftly cut down by General Aa; they never gave them enough time to contact anybody.

"Because Anon's experienced and Vhe'dn was too angry to let her body win," Sevets said gently. He looked objectively straight in front of him. "Besides," he added, volume dropping a few levels, "she's got a lot of people to live for."

Ando didn't respond, but Sevets could sense his shift in mood.

"Where are we headed, General?" Sevets asked.

"To the middle," Aa responded as they jogged. "Anon said they didn't have her in the cell block compounds, so I figure they have her in the control room."

"A map would be helpful, sir," Ando pointed out earnestly. "We can't feel our way around like you can."

"Right," Aa said, skidding to a halt in front of a door. He pressed the pad and it flashed red. "_Fierfek_. Can you do something?"

Sevets stepped up to look at the controls. He tested a few buttons, then sighed.

"Not without my HUD," he said. "What now?"

**********

The pain was internal and excruciating, but her fatigue clouded her ability to acknowledge it; Vhe'dn would have been thankful for that had she not been worried it was a byproduct of _death._

Anon stayed calm, for which she was grateful, because Vhe'dn could feel herself losing her cool.

"All right," Anon said. "I know it might not make much sense, but I need you to try to make your mind susceptible to influence; you need to let me in so I can feel your heartbeats."

Vhe'dn nodded compliantly; she wasn't about to argue with someone trying to save her life. Anon was young, but not so much younger than herself, and she seemed confident enough.

Vhe'dn found it incredibly easy to relent to Anon's influence when she _wanted_ to; she felt it like a warm weight in her head, urging her to give in; she did.

"I'm going to try to slow just one, to see if I can line it up," Anon explained.

Vhe'dn felt the effects; she felt lethargic, like she could feel the veins squeezing together, the blood slowing but still trying to pump, like something would pop any second. Anon exhaled hard and she felt everything go rushing back to the way it was with a painful stab.

"I take it it didn't work?" Vhe'dn breathed.

"I'm going to try something," Anon said, a determined expression on her face.

She took a slow breath, exhaled, then raised a hand. She clamped it together in a fist.

Vhe'dn's eyes shot wide as she felt a kick in the chest. Then as quick as it happened, it was done, and Anon was helping her to lay down. Vhe'dn panted, the sudden energy flooding her system dizzying.

"What did you do?" she asked.

"Stopped your hearts," Anon said; she sounded amazed it had worked, "then released them. It reset everything."

Vhe'dn laughed a relieved, breathy little laugh.

_"Vor'e_," she breathed, closing her eyes, suddenly exhausted. "_Vor'e_. How long until I can stand?"

Anon shook her head.

"I don't know; the whole thing was an incredible amount of stress on your system," she explained. "You still need to see a proper doctor."

"I'll be fine," Vhe'dn murmured, closing her eyes, relaxing. "Get me a blaster."

"What?"

"A blaster; it calms me."

Anon stood and paced over to a scrapped droid, returning with its rifle. She handed it her, and Vhe'dn curled her fingers around it, exhaling.

"Help me to a computer," she said.

**********

Kael-Shei suddenly saw the panel flash green.

"You did it!"

"It wasn't me, sir," Sevets responded.

The door slid open, and, like clockwork, Ando and Sevets had both their backs pressed to the doorframe. Kael-Shei strolled in calmly. A communications room; excellent. Computers lined the wall. On one, a light was blinking slowly.

"Come on," Kael-Shei jerked his head.

After ensuring a proper military procedure entrance, Sevets and Ando followed him into the room. Kael-Shei stopped in front of the flashing icon; Sevets stood behind him like an honor guard. Without hesitating, Kael-Shei reached out and pressed it, even though he could feel the spike in Sevets's blood pressure at his impulsiveness.

"_Master_," a voice projected.

"Anon," Kael-Shei greeted them.

"Master, Vhe'dn's okay; she got us into the system."

Kael-Shei's acute sense of pride for his Padawan was nearly drown by the waves of relief he felt rolling off Ando. Sometimes he wished he could shut off his perceptions, but he had spent too much time with these men not to be able to tell what they were feeling.

"Well done, both of you," Kael-Shei commended.

"Unfortunately, the path to the Queen is crawling with droids," Vhe'dn's voice interjected; she sounded strong, but tired. "We can work around that, though. These halls are lined with terminal conduits; their mistake."

"What are you getting at?" Sevets asked slowly.

"I'm getting at overloading," Vhe'dn explained vaguely. "I'll unlock all the consoles in this room, but then I need to go before they catch me in the system. Just take the shortest path to the control room; I'll be in _front_ of you."

The computers all began to wink on, and then Vhe'dn was gone. Ando began to surf through camera feeds.

"What does she mean?" Sevets asked.

"I believe she_ enjoys_ being misunderstood," Kael-Shei grumbled.

"Woah!" Ando suddenly recoiled from the screen, turning slightly to address Sevets. "Permission to vomit, sir."

Sevets scowled at Ando's unprofessional comment, but did manage to wrinkle his nose when he saw the feed of two of the station's apparent organics in the midst of rather_ friendly_ behavior.

"Just find the control room and confirm she's there," Sevets grumbled.

Kael-Shei brought up a map of the station. Sevets crouched to stare at it, tracing routes. His eyes flicked back and forth as he memorized.

"Got it," Sevets stated.

"Me too," Ando said. "She's there, and let's just make sure they don't up the security by the time we get there, because it's looking shoddy at best right now."

They moved swiftly out of the room, trailing straight behind Sevets. They took a corner in time to see a group of droids raise their blasters. Kael-Shei snapped on his lightsaber-

-but he never had time to use it. There was a loud, electronic discharge noise and a bright explosion, and suddenly the droids were dropping with whining little screams. They skid to a stop.

"What the hell was that?" Ando shouted.

"It was Vhe'dn," Sevets replied immediately. "Remember? She's overloading the terminals."

The walls smoked, gaping holes blown straight through the metal from the conduits.

"Come on," Kael-Shei said, disturbed.

They leapt over the remains of the droids, barreling down the halls toward the control room. Droids piled around the corner and were swiftly blown to pieces as another wall exploded with a deafening _bang_. Without stopping, they just ran over them. They entered a long corridor.

The noise and display was overwhelming. The droids kept coming, and Kael-Shei watched as the walls exploded, bright energy and debris flying in a chain reaction straight down the hall, far enough in front of them not to get caught in the crossfire. They never stopped charging forward; there wasn't even a need for their weapons.

"This is insane!" Sevets bellowed over the noise.

"I'm just glad she's on our side!" Kael-Shei yelled back.

Two lefts and one more right and they were there, the door sliding open just in time for them to enter. They skid to a halt.

The droids all seemed startled. Kael-Shei caught sight of Queen Pentel standing in the middle of it all.

"Get down, Your Highness!" he shouted, snapping his lightsaber on.

The droids started firing and Pentel hit the floor as ordered. Kael-Shei deflected the bolts back at their source, providing for Ando and Sevets's lack of armor. The droids began to drop like insects as Ando and Sevets fired around him.

"This is ridiculous," Ando said. "Where's the army?"

"Apparently too - _ng_ - busy with other things to protect their pawn," Kael-Shei ground out. "Take cover."

Sevets and Ando threw themselves behind the nearby console, and Kael-Shei leapt to engage the super battle droids, slicing them neatly to pieces. Ando and Sevets pegged off the remaining droids as Kael-Shei knelt to help Pentel up. The whole battle had lasted a chaotic, unorganized minute.

"Are you all right?" Kael-Shei asked her gently.

Queen Pentel smoothed the front of her robes as she stood, looking pale but unharmed.

"Yes," she replied, staring at the blood on his forehead. "Thank you, Master Jedi."

Her lips parted slightly as Ando and Sevets approached. Kael-Shei looked at them. They looked threatening, both holding their weapons one-handed, Sevets's arm cradled close to his body and Ando covered in blood all down his chest and stomach, a battle high etched on both their faces. Kael-Shei waved a hand at them.

"These are my men," he explained. "We had a bit of a time getting here to rescue you."

Pentel nodded, apparently unable to look away.

"And we left a bit of a swath, so we have to go _now_," he urged her.

Pentel hesitated, overwhelmed, then nodded and pulled off her bulky outer robes. They all moved for the exit. Kael-Shei smoothed his hair back, crusty with blood from the cut on his forehead.

"What's the plan, sir?" Sevets asked him.

"To get back to my Padawan and our impromptu ally," Kael-Shei said.

"And then?"

"Well, I was hoping your resourcefulness would know what to do after that."

Sevets grimaced.

They made their way through the halls as swiftly as they could with the Queen, jumping over the remains of droids; the floor was slick with fluid.

"Droids, sir!"

Kael-Shei could hear the sound of droid feet clanking on the floors behind them.

"Don't slow down!" Kael-Shei ordered. "Just keep running!"

They picked up their pace, staying as far ahead of the growing group of pursuers as possible, leaving the carnage of the damaged halls behind them. Kael-Shei's heart hammered as he saw more droids round the corner ahead of them. They raised their blasters just before the walls around them exploded. Pentel shrieked and threw her arms up.

"Don't slow down!" Kael-Shei grabbed her hand and pulled her along as the electronic explosions ripped down the halls ahead of them on a direct path to where Vhe'dn and Anon waited for them. They barreled down the halls until they got to the entrance; the explosions continued on, dissuading any further pursuers from joining the already large group not far behind them.

Anon was helping Vhe'dn, fully suited in her armor, up from her chair in front of the console; she still looked like a wreck, but a _live_ one.

"We need to go," Kael-Shei said.

"They've got us pinned," Vhe'dn ground out as she tried to support herself on her own, helmet under one arm. Ando rushed past him to take Vhe'dn from Anon.

"Blow up this damn wall," Vhe'dn ordered, pointing to the wall to his left. "There's a pond on the other side. I've got it all set up. Just hit go."

Ando slapped his palm down onto the console without hesitation and the wall was torn to pieces in a shriek of metal; the exposed conduits spat angry sparks. Anon jumped over to cut through the second layer of wall, and outside light poured into the room.

"Come on!" She jumped through the hole.

"You're next, Your Highness," Kael-Shei said, waving a hand towards the hole.

Pentel looked horrified.

"I can't jump from _a building_," she breathed.

The sound of droid feet picked up.

"Apologies, ma'am," Sevets stated, then rushed forward and, scooping up the Queen with his good arm, jumped out the hole. Pentel screamed as they fell.

Kael-Shei grimaced. "Quite the charmer, is he."

Ando picked up Vhe'dn and was out next. Kael-Shei dove after them. The water was farther away than was comfortable, but Kael-Shei twisted his body and entered the water with as little impact as possible. He surfaced. Anon was beckoning from the opposite shore, and Pentel was gasping and choking in her panic as Sevets dragged her to her feet, wading through the shallows. Ando and Vhe'dn surfaced about two meters away with a gasp. Ando attempted to help her swim to shore, but Vhe'dn pushed him away, insisting on doing it herself; she appeared to be a powerful swimmer, even with her armor on. They quickly made their way to land, scrambling to get to the woods as blaster fire began to rain down on them. Vhe'dn tripped and Ando scooped her back up.

They disappeared into the trees.

**********

After running for his life, the last thing Sevets wanted to do was sit stationary in the woods waiting for someone, hopefully the Republic, to find them, but that was what they had to do now. Queen Pentel couldn't keep up with trained soldiers and Jedi, and Ando could only carry Vhe'dn so long with only one good arm. Sevets wasn't doing any better; his arm had settled into a dull throbbing state.

They now all sat coming down from adrenaline highs, leaning against various trees. Anon sat next to Sevets, hands around his broken arm, attempting to ease the pain. It helped; it felt like heat moving all through the screaming nerves, disguising the discomfort.

Vhe'dn had handed off her gauntlet computer to Kael-Shei to send encrypted signals out, hoping that the Republic would hear them. The problem was, in order for the Separatists _not_ to hear them, it made it very difficult for the Republic to do the same.

Everyone was eerily quiet, nursing their wounds and dealing with the stress on their minds. Pentel sat wringing her hands. With nothing else to think about, Sevets found himself worrying about Damper; they didn't know what had happened with the refugee camp, and the sun was going down. The worry was enough to make him nauseous.

He glanced over at Ando. Vhe'dn had fallen asleep, her head resting on Ando's chest. His hand was on her shoulder, supporting her protectively. Ando watched her calmly, fondly, worriedly. Sevets chewed the inside of his cheek discreetly.

Kael-Shei suddenly looked up. He stood.

"Sir?" Sevets asked him.

"It's Damper," Kael-Shei murmured.

Sevets felt fear squeeze his heart. _No..._

"He's here," Kael-Shei continued.

Sevets narrowed his eyes. "What?"

He listened. Seconds passed, and suddenly he heard it: a gunship. They all looked into the air as the sound grew closer. Sevets stood swiftly as it appeared above them, whipping up the loose ground beneath them. It lowered slowly, and the blast door slid back.

Damper beckoned them from where he stood in the ship, a giant grin on his face.

"By the looks of you, I'd say I won when it comes to mission outcomes!" he shouted.

Sevets broke into a smile that he couldn't hold back. They all scrambled onto the ship, Pentel looking as if she was begging the nightmare to be over. Ando fussed over Vhe'dn as the medics began to strip off her armor plates. Sevets clapped Damper on the shoulder.

"And?"

"And we managed to avoid the Seps for as long as it took the Republic to arrive," Damper answered, smiling, knowing exactly what he meant. "Happy day. The arm suits you; jealous of Ando's roguish injury or something?"

Sevets wrinkled his nose at him. "Something like that."

Damper glanced over at Ando.

"Things have developed, I see."

"Yeah," Sevets murmured, looking down at his brother, a sense of inevitableness forming over his mind. "They have."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

It had been three, restless weeks since Vhe'dn had seen Ando and his brothers. She had continually slipped in and out of consciousness during the trip on the Republic attack cruiser, and the last time she could recall Ando was when they had made it back to Coruscant.

_We'll find you_, he had said with a reassuring smile on his face as she had been led off the ship, on her way to a hospital.

That felt like forever ago. She was now completely recovered, her hearts strong and her missing fingers replaced with robotics that felt, looked, and acted exactly like the real thing. Ando had kept his promise, too; Kael-Shei had found her apartment in a few weeks, reassuring her that they were all still on Coruscant for recovery. After some conversation, Vhe'dn had decided she liked the man; he was eccentric, open-minded, and definitely capable of forgetting he was a Jedi.

He was also completely willing to bend the rules to get them all together at her apartment for an evening. Unfortunately, her window was a small one; they were all scheduled to ship out the next day. Vhe'dn wasn't going to let the sadness she felt over that fact ruin the night, however. She took it upon herself to give them all a taste of what it was like outside the army in the best way she knew how; by providing plenty of hot snacks.

They now all sat around the various pieces of furniture of her apartment. The night was going better than Vhe'dn had expected; even Sevets had relaxed enough to join in.

There was hardly enough time for Vhe'dn to wipe the tears of laughter from her eyes before it had started in again; Sevets was finishing telling a chaotic anecdote from the days early in the war, illustrating with wide arm gestures.

"...and what did they want to hear, that I'm _honored_ to accept that none of us will make it back, that it's a hopeless job, that I'm willing to lay down the lives of my men- especially _you_, Damper-"

They erupted into laughter.

Sevets was grinning. "-and that I'm okay with the blemish on my record? Needless to say, we succeeded anyways."

Vhe'dn leaned back into the couch, laughing happily. Ando sat next to her, his arm across the headrest behind her. The stories and laughter went on, to the point that Vhe'dn began to feel a little overwhelmed by the fact that they were all leaving the next day. She'd grown incredibly fond of each of them. Discreetly, she stood and walked out onto the balcony, trying not to disrupt the flow of conversation.

**********

After minutes had passed and Vhe'dn hadn't returned, Ando stepped out onto the balcony after her. He softened when his sight fell on Vhe'dn sitting on the wide railing. It was dark, but she was silhouetted by the soft blue lights of the surrounding cityscape. She held her left hand up in front of her face, flexing her fingers back and forth, staring at them. Ando felt a twinge of guilt; he shook it off, because it wasn't his to bear.

Vhe'dn looked over at him, laying her hand down in her lap. He managed to make out a smile on her face.

"Hey," she greeted him.

"Hey," he replied with a similar smile. He leaned casually on the doorframe, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Seems like forever ago, doesn't it?" Vhe'dn murmured with a rueful expression. "But it's only been three weeks."

Ando thought about it. "I suppose."

Vhe'dn nodded. "I know what you mean." She picked at the railing, not looking at him. "It feels like forever, but then, it all just comes rushing back, and so, in a way, it's not forever at all."

Ando nodded in agreement, pushing himself off the frame. He walked over to her and sat across from her on the railing. She was rubbing her palm. He hesitated, then took her hand, rubbing his thumb over her fingers to flatten them out.

"It looks like nothing ever happened," he remarked softly, hoping it was all right to say.

Vhe'dn nodded, then looked suddenly sheepish and embarrassed.

"I was a wreck when it happened," she laughed, seemingly ashamed of herself, rocking slightly. She sobered. "I'd never lost any appendages before."

Ando shook his head at her. "I would have been just as sickened," he assured her; he didn't say, but simply_ watching_ it had been enough to give him a cold sweat. "Maybe wouldn't have_ sworn_ so much, but..."

Vhe'dn laughed, and the sound was warming. He released her hand. She flexed the fingers in front of her eyes again.

"It's kind of disgusting, really," she muttered, "how I could get synthflesh so easily, and they can't hardly spare any for the army... all it was was my_ fingers_... insignificant fingers..."

She'd lowered her hand, retreating into her thoughts. Ando shifted, hoping for another topic to surface naturally; Vhe'dn never seemed to understand the awkwardness of silences.

"Things turned out strange in the end, didn't they?" Vhe'dn murmured. "Think about if that gunship hadn't have gone down."

Maybe the forest hadn't been so horrible an occurrence.

"I could never have planned you," Vhe'dn sighed, sliding off the railing, feet hitting the floor, hands hanging onto it behind her. "Couldn't have planned any of this."

Ando followed suit in sliding off the railing.

"I couldn't have planned you, either," Ando agreed. "You're so hard to understand."

He laughed.

"You're nothing like Castilla," he observed, thinking of the only other near-human woman he had ever come to closely know. "She would always be so overly understanding and ridiculously kind to me, even when I very clearly didn't deserve it. She was never frustrated with me, and never felt that I had anything to apologize for, even when I knew I did. She was just... so... _nice_."

Ando looked over at Vhe'dn.

"But you... you never hesitate to find an excuse to be angry with me," he continued, words pouring from him. "I feel like I run circles and circles and can just never find what to do right. I'm so used to pity that it's almost a shock when you keep slapping me back into place."

Vhe'dn scowled at him. "Are you saying I'm not nice?"

Ando laughed, a breathy, heady laugh that expressed that he was clearly delighted with her response.

"_That's what I mean!"_ Ando breathed, smiling brightly at her. He could feel that his eyes were watery. "_Angry!_ I feel like you treat me-"

Vhe'dn laid her hand over his on the railing.

Ando's breath hitched a little, and his voice softened. _"-like a normal human being..."_

He took a steadying breath, feeling slightly dizzy. "But you know what the oddest thing is? I don't hate it. I like it; I think I _need_ it. I feel like, for the first time, someone who thinks I'm human doesn't also see me as some pitiable child."

"I _do_ pity you, Ando," Vhe'dn said softly.

_"I know_, but I don't feel consumed by it," Ando stumbled on. "Pity isn't what you feel first when you see me. I think I can _tell."_

He fell silent for a moment.

"You're just so _stable_, Vhe'dn. You're sure. So sure, that you made me question _myself_," he said quietly. "I'm not content to just... fight anymore; and I don't know what to do about it. You made me want things, things that I didn't before."

"Like what?" Vhe'dn asked, expression softening. Her hand moved off his.

He thought.

"Assurance. Comfort. Other... things."

"Like?" she prodded again.

He exhaled hard, trying to sort through in his _own_ mind what it was he wanted.

"...Time?" he finally said. No; that wasn't quite it. "I want... I _want_."

He laughed.

"That's actually kind of what it is. You made me want to want, other things than what I'm given in the army. _More_. I know I have my brothers, and they're everything to me, but..."

Vhe'dn gave him a soft, knowing smile, so he kept going.

"...but they _have_ to care about me."

Vhe'dn laughed softly, and Ando joined in.

"You know what I mean," he said, rubbing his forehead. "I wish that someone else would care. Someone who didn't have to. I'm sick of being cloistered."

_Fierfek,_ he couldn't just say it, could he?_ Please, Vhe, tell me it's not like that... tell me I'm wrong..._

He didn't understand it. He felt incompetent, inexperienced. He hated that. He was thankful for the darkness, hiding his burning cheeks. He silently begged Vhe'dn to break the silence.

She did.

"I'm in love with you, Ando."

She might as well have given him a roundhouse kick in the stomach. He coughed. He'd forgotten how blunt she could be.

"I..." he stuttered.

She looked straight at him.

"I think it'd be stupid not to say that after all of this," she continued, "and I'm scared to death of losing you. This is a brutal life you were born into, and it's not fair; but I can't hate it, can I? Because if not for this war, you wouldn't have been given a life in the first place."

Ando had thought of similar things a lot over the past months. He hadn't understood before why he had suddenly had to rationalize it to himself after her, but... now he was beginning to grasp it.

"I hardly know what to think of it," she said, "so I won't for now. I just know, _really_ know, that I love you, the_ real_ kind of love, and I have for a long time."

Ando wished she would keep talking; he was finding the whole situation overwhelming, and he didn't know how to respond. Did he love her? Did he even know what love was? Could he?

He didn't know at all what the feeling was, so there was every possibility in the galaxy that it _was_ love. He was willing to bet on it. She made him feel so conflicted inside. It was both exciting and terrifying at the same time. Everything she had described to him, the fear of loss, the sense of injustice... he felt it echoed in himself, suddenly, and with such an aching intensity.

His words came out breathless, a few little disbelieving laughs making their way in.

"It's nothing like what it was, is it?" Words tumbled from his mouth. "We were enemies four months ago, and now..."

"Ando..."

He didn't want to worry her.

"I love you, too," he interrupted her, willing his voice not to shake like his body was.

She reached over and took his hands; he realized he had been silently begging her to for the past minutes.

"Come with me to Mandalore," she pleaded. "You can't stay in this army, not like this."

Ando shook his head, overwhelmed, terrified by the part of him that wanted to say _yes._ "I can't... I can't..."

"Your brothers will come, too," she said.

_"We_ can't..."

"I can't watch you be used like this," she whispered.

Ando was silent for a moment.

"This is all I know how to do, Vhe'dn," he said quietly. He had to make her understand. "I'd be of no use to anyone on Mandalore."

"You'd be of use to _me."_

"Not you either," he said gently, "and don't try to make me feel better by telling me I'm wrong; I don't know anything about life outside the GAR, only the bits and pieces I've managed to see. Besides, Sevets would never leave, and... I can be of use here. I can do things _here_ that can help. I would just be riding it out on Mandalore otherwise, while everyone else like me would be fighting and dying."

"This isn't your war, Ando," Vhe'dn said.

"Maybe not," Ando conceded, "but if that's the case, it's _none_ of our war, and not my place to skip out on it because I found the chance. I have a responsibility to my men."

Vhe'dn searched his eyes, looking both incredibly proud and heartbroken at the same time.

"After the war, then," Vhe'dn whispered. "When this war ends, will you leave?"

Ando could feel his heart pounding, so afraid of all the decisions he was suddenly having to make. What was right and what was wrong? What was treason and what was not?

Why should he have to care? Let someone else sort the paperwork.

"Yes," he said.

Vhe'dn exhaled hard, a relieved expression forming across her face. She shifted, turning away from him slightly, bracing her hands on the railing behind her.

"Please don't be disappointed," he murmured.

"I'm not," Vhe'dn said softly. "I'm just afraid."

Ando felt a desperate need to reassure her. "I'll be careful. I won't disappear."

"It won't be easy," Vhe'dn said softly. She looked up and over at him, the lights of the city highlighting the curves of her face in a neutral blue. "We probably won't be able to see each other much, and even keeping in contact will be difficult at times. Are you sure you can deal with the separation?"

"I trust you," Ando said, suddenly finding the words easy, and the implications thrilling. "Ending it here scares me more than considering being away from you for extended periods of time, but... if you want this... so do I... and I trust you."

Vhe'dn's lips parted slightly and something shifted in her eyes.

"Are..." Vhe'dn started, then sighed quickly and tried again. "Are you sure you won't come to Mandalore with me?"

Ando looked away from her, unable to meet her eyes.

"I can't," he said, finding those words to be the hardest to say of them all. They made him feel guilty, like he was betraying her, choosing someone else in her place. It was a finality. "I have to be here, in the army. This is what I know how to do, where I'll be of use. I know I didn't choose it, but it's my duty now, regardless."

He glanced up as if looking for Vhe'dn to forgive him, but she just nodded and looked at the floor, her expression choosedly devoid of emotion.

"What about you?" he asked gently. Vhe'dn looked back up at him.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Can _you_ handle it?" Ando questioned. He continued calmly, matter-of-factly, "I'll die; much earlier than you, given the war doesn't kill me first. Can you handle that?"

It seemed to upset her. Vhe'dn visibly bristled and let go of the railing behind her, taking a step for him.

"You don't know that yet."

"Not even you can stop death, Vhe," Ando said patiently, sadly, but with acceptance. "I'm not a system you can hack and correct."

Ando watched a new emotion cross Vhe'dn's face; her eyes began to scan his rapidly, her shoulders and chest beginning to heave just slightly as her breathing changed. Ando froze as he saw a trail of tears began to roll down her cheeks. She didn't cry; she just let them run.

"Hey..." he said softly, going to wipe them away.

Vhe'dn just laughed breathlessly, snatching his hand before he got there and wiping the tears away with the back of her arm. She sniffed, a lopsided smile on her face. She hauled herself onto the railing again, sitting with one leg over the edge. Ando joined her.

"So this is it, huh?" she asked, laying her hand over his where it rested. "We're really going to do this; be an item."

Ando nodded, excitement flooding his stomach; she was beautiful.

"Yes."

"Good," Vhe'dn said.

There didn't seem to be anything left to say. So he just leaned over and kissed her firmly on the lips.


	17. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Ando and his brothers had eventually gone back to the barracks the previous night to prepare for shipping out the next day. Vhe'dn had promised to meet Ando at the landing pad the next morning to see him off, so at the edge of it she stood, waiting. She felt an odd mixture of excitement and heartache twisting in her stomach. The speed at which everything was happening was overwhelming. It had only been hours ago that she'd confessed everything to Ando, and he'd returned the same; and now he was leaving. She could handle it. She was used to saying goodbye.

Her breath still came short, though.

Troopers and people moved past her, paying her no attention. There was no need; she was dressed in simple, casual clothing and a smart leather trench coat that went just past her knees. There was no reason to advertise she was a Mandalorian in upper-level Coruscant. She could blend in.

"He's on his way," someone said gently from behind her; she hadn't heard them approach.

Vhe'dn turned to face Kael-Shei. He gave her a soft smile, which she returned; she'd grown quickly fond of the man. He was quite confusing to her, which she found fascinating, because she hardly ever had such trouble reading people. She had an idea it was because she didn't quite know the personality construct that made him up. He was so flighty.

"Thanks, Kael," she said gently, looking back to the gunships and assault cruisers.

"I'll make sure you both can always stay in contact with each other," he told her. "I can set up a private comm channel, if you'd like."

Vhe'dn turned her head to smile at him. "I've already taken care of it. It's secure."

Kael-Shei seemed amused. "Of course you have."

He looked past her suddenly. Vhe'dn turned to see Ando making his way across the landing pad to her, suited up in his armor, helmet under one arm, once again the trooper he was. She felt both excitement and dread at the sight of him.

"We'll keep in touch," Kael-Shei said quietly. She heard him retreat.

Vhe'dn began to walk to meet Ando, trying to be strong.

"You just make sure to come back alive," Vhe'dn said, a coy smile on her face as she came to a stop in front of him, "Lieutenant."

Ando just gave her a soft, reassuring smile. "It's what I was bred to do, ma'am."

_Ma'am._ Vhe'dn knew it was playful banter, but the reality of their relationship just came crushing down around her. The gunships began to take off around them. Her eyes flicked to the ground. She sensed Ando hesitating.

Finally, he just gently grabbed her side and laid a soft kiss on her forehead. He then swiftly spun and began to walk away, pulling his helmet over his head.

"Ando-" Vhe'dn called, reaching out.

He didn't stop, and Vhe'dn knew that was for the best. She clasped her hands in front of her, exhaling hard. Ando jumped onto the closest gunship, turning to face her as he reached up to grab onto a handhold. Vhe'dn stared him straight in the visor as they lifted off, sending her hair and coattails fluttering.

"-_returcye mhi_," she whispered.

She watched the ship disappear into the sky.

_fin._

--------------------------------------------------------------

So ends Part Two. I hope you all enjoyed it! A HUGE thank you to everyone who always took the time to review; reading your guys' feedback was the highlight of my day, always. The next story you'll be seeing from me is The Oyre Effect: Part Two & ½: Exchanges, a short. It's only three chapters long, and is already written. It's an interlude to Part Three.


End file.
